FAQ

1. What is “Anglicanism”? What does “Episcopal” mean?

Are you Anglican or are you Episcopalian?

Is it “Episcopal” or “Episcopalian”?

The words “Anglican” and “Episcopal/Episcopalian” can often be used interchangeably. Here is what each word means:

“Anglican” describes our heritage:

Anglican simply means “of England”. During the British Empire, where ever England had a colony, they also built local parishes of the Church of England. When those colonies became their own independent countries, those local churches also became independent from the Church of England. However, many people continued to believe and worship just as they had when they were part of the Church of England. The churches that continued in that tradition are called Anglican churches.

“Episcopal” describes our form of church government:

“Episcopal” comes from the Greek word for “bishop” (episkopos / ἐπίσκοπος). Anglican or Episcopal churches are headed by special kinds of ministers called “bishops”. Each bishop oversees a region called a “diocese”.

Finally, “Episcopalian” is anyone who is a member of an Episcopal Church. “Episcopal” is an adjective and “Episcopalian” is a noun. Don't worry about the grammar though! Except for the school-teachers amongst us, life-long Episcopalians mix these two up all the time.

2. Why are you called “Reformed Episcopalians”?

What does “Reformed” mean?

During the 19th century, there was a movement within Anglicanism called the “Oxford Movement” which tried to distance Anglicanism from other Protestant churches. At the time, this trend troubled many within the Episcopal Church and some of them decided to found the Reformed Episcopal Church in order to maintain the heritage of the Protestant Reformation within Anglicanism. Because of our commitment to the principles of the Reformation, we call ourselves “Reformed Episcopalians”.

3. What services does your church have?

Our church has two main services during the week. A Sunday morning service and a Wednesday evening service.

Our Sunday morning service is at 10:30 am and is either Holy Communion or a shorter service called “Morning Prayer”.

Our Wednesday evening service begins at 6:30 pm and is a casual service of prayers and songs without a sermon.

4. Why do you read all the prayers out of a book?

Doesn't that stifle the spirit of worship?

Our church is a liturgical church. That means that for every service, we have a set order of prayers and Scripture readings for that service. All these are included in a book called The Book of Common Prayer.

Rather that stifling worship, we think the Book of Common Prayer actually makes worshiping together easier because it allows us all to pray together in common.

In this way, the Book of Common Prayer is similar to the Hymnal. What if, instead of everyone in the congregation singing one song out of the hymnal together, each person sang his or her own song independently of everyone else? While each individual person might be singing very sincerely, it would be a mess for everyone to sing their own songs at the same time. But when everyone sings the same song, the church is able to sing together as one voice. In the same way, when we all have the same prayer, we can all pray that prayer together as one body.

And even though most of our prayers during church are said together in common, there are moments in every church service in which individuals are given time to pray their own personal prayers silently.

5. Does your church have a dress code?

What should I wear if I visit?

Our church does not have a dress code. On Sunday mornings people tend to dress up more. On Wednesdays, many people are coming straight from work or school or sports practice, so they tend to be dressed more casually for that service.

While we believe that we ought to come to church in a spirit of reverence and respect for God, we also believe that has more to do with the state of one's heart than with the clothes one wears.

6. Who may take communion at your church?

We believe that the Lord instituted his Supper for all of his disciples. When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we are not doing so on behalf of our denomination, but on behalf of Jesus who commanded us to celebrate this Supper until his Coming again. So all baptized disciples of Jesus Christ, no matter to which specific church they belong, are welcome at his Supper.

7. What does it take to be a disciple of Jesus?

To be a disciple of Jesus requires two things: 1. Repentance and 2. Faith.

Repentance literally means “to change one's mind”. In the context of following Jesus, repentance means that we turn from centering our lives on things of this world and begin to center our lives on Jesus. We once thought this world was what is important (wealth, entertainment, pleasure, comfort, reputation, etc), but now we see that the pursuit of these things leads to death. Now we see that the only one who leads to life is Jesus Christ. This is how our minds have changed – we once followed this world, but now we turn away from the world, making a 180° to follow Christ.

Faith follows naturally from repentance, in fact, faith is that part of repentance in which we focus our lives on Jesus. Faith is the realization that Jesus Christ is our only hope, that he is Life itself.

If you have repented from living for this world, and now faithfully center your life on Christ, you are his disciple.

8. You mentioned that “baptized” disciples are welcomed to take communion.

How does baptism fit into being a follower of Jesus?

If you have repented and have faith in Christ, but have not yet been baptized, that should be your very next step. Baptism marks the beginning our discipleship. It shows us

1. that God has washed away our sins,

2. that we have died to our old selves and are made new creatures in Christ

3. that the holy Spirit has come down to live within us.

Since baptism marks the beginning of our discipleship and communion marks our continued reliance on Jesus, it is appropriate that we be baptized before we take communion.

9. I have more questions.

If you have any more questions, we would be very pleased to help you find answers, either in person when you visit us, or over the phone or email.

If you wish to contact us, please see our contact information here.