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We
are Christians.
We celebrate our place in the worldwide Christian movement that has its
foundation in the person of Jesus Christ and that has been carried forward
through the centuries by apostles, martyrs, bishops, priests, deacons,
and lay persons of all ages and races. We share with other Christians
the key elements of Scripture, Creeds, Sacraments, and the Historic Episcopate,
and count ourselves part of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
We
are Anglicans.
We were born out of the Church of England, with roots extending back
to the earliest days of Christianity, with a spirituality that was shaped
by monastic, celtic, and Roman traditions, and with a Reformation emphasis
on Scripture, Tradition, and Reason. We are part of the Anglican Communion,
with over 70 million Anglicans in 38 national churches or provinces,
all linked directly to the English Church and its head, the Archbishop
of Canterbury, who is not “an Anglican Pope” but rather the
living symbol of unity between the member churches. (For more on the
Anglican Communion, go to www.aco.org.
For more on the Archbishop of Canterbury, go to www.aco.org/archbishops/
We
are Episcopalians.
We are part of the missionary movement in these former British colonies
that after the American Revolution was incorporated as “The Foreign
and Domestic Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in
the United States of America.” With over 2.5 million members in
every state of the Union, we are a national church in full communion
both with other Anglican churches and with the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America. We are an extended family that adopts easily, as our familiar
blue, red, and white signs proclaim: “The Episcopal Church Welcomes
You!” (For more on the Episcopal Church, go to www.ecusa.anglican.org
We
are the Diocese of Arizona.
We constitute one section, or diocese, of the national Episcopal Church,
under the visionary and pastoral leadership of its Bishop, the Rt. Rev.
Kirk Stevan Smith. With 60 congregations, several excellent primary schools,
youth groups, and three college chaplaincies—with a focus on church
growth and development, on Spanish-speaking and Native American ministries,
and on welcoming the newcomer—we are a vibrant group of believers
making a difference in countless ways throughout the state.
For
more on the History of the Church, click
here
For more on the
Church in the World, click
here
For
more on the Church in the U.S., click
here
For
more on the Church in Arizona, click
here
For
more on the Glossary of Episcopal Terms click
here
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