Who We Are
Apostolic & Biblical
The Reformed Episcopal Church holds a high view of Holy Scripture, knowing that the Church of Jesus Christ is “built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the Chief Cornerstone.”
The chief source of prophetic and apostolic teaching is the Holy Scriptures. For that reason we are very careful to “hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them”. Much of our liturgy is taken directly from Holy Scripture, and we give place for the public readings of Scripture in all our services. It is an essential component to make us know the God who is.
We are especially mindful of this in an age when many churches write off the Bible as a collection of myths and errors. Modern theologians and bishops make a point of setting aside the most basic tenets of Christian belief by first marginalizing Scripture.
Ancient
Although the Reformed Episcopal Church was founded in 1873, it stands in a tradition that goes back to the earliest times. That appreciation is seen in our use of the ancient Creeds of the Church, the Apostles’ and Nicene. There is also a deep concern to learn from the ancients, to glean the lessons they learned from the early heresies, controversies, and tests they faced.
Our tie to the ancient Church is also seen in our continued commitment to the historic episcopate. We are also conscious about our English roots. English Christianity is very ancient. It is supposed that the faith was brought to England by slaves in Roman households. We do know that by A.D. 314, the English sent bishops to attend the Council of Arles. This shows an active church long before the missions of St. Augustine of Canterbury in A.D. 597. This ancient English church develops the basis and structure of our liturgy. We are careful to deal with this heritage with care and respect.
Reformed
Here is a word that takes on several meanings. The first addresses our tie to the English Reformation. We are a church in the Reformed tradition, a matter borne out in our use of the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion as the doctrinal expression of our church. We also see that tie in our liturgy, which was set by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer during the earliest part of that Reformation. It was a return to, and rescue of, the rich heritage of the ancient English church. It was not rebellion, nor was it the creation something completely new. It was restoring to the Church those things rightly hers.
The word “reformed” also speaks to our relationship with the Episcopal Church. Our founders broke from the Episcopal Church to “seek the old paths”. The abuses within the church were such that forced our founders to finally seek another solution. We are disheartened to see a “heaping on” of abuses in the denials of biblical truth and ancient church practice. We sought and still seek to return to the virtues and practices of the old Protestant Episcopal Church of days past, and behind that, to the ancient church of England, and of Jerusalem.
Evangelical
To be evangelical is to have a sense of God’s good news, and a desire to proclaim it. The good news is our peace with God through Jesus Christ, and we note that Christians from the earliest times boldly made that known.
A further part of being evangelical is to train those who are evangelized in the faith. This process of instruction is also important in advancing the good news, and seeing it kept true coming generations.
For that reason, worship is given a high priority. If we understand that worship is an offering of ourselves to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit, then all Christians grow and mature under this regular and well-structured discipline.