The Episcopal Branch of Christ’s Body: A Primer for Episcopalians Old and New

The Episcopal Branch of Christ’s Body:

A Primer for Episcopalians Old and New

           As most of our members know, October is the month of our annual parish Pledge Drive. Throughout the month, under the guidance of Pledge Drive Chair David Culver, all of our members are asked to consider a pledge for the coming year. These pledges allow the parish Finance Committee and the Vestry to make a budget for the coming year, which helps our various ministries to plan their work. “Pledge Season” is a common practice in the Episcopal Church and, believe it or not, one toward which many people look forward.

           But October also brings out other “ecclesiastical” gifts of which some people, especially new members, may not be aware. In particular, October is the month of our Annual Diocesan Convention which brings together all 135 congregations in our Diocese. This important gathering, which happens this year on October 17th & 18th, is one of the most important ways that we gather as the Episcopal Branch of Christ’s body. And that is what I want to talk about for the next few paragraphs: the different ways we “gather” as Episcopalians, and why that is important to our life together.

           First of all, I need to mention that our Church - the Episcopal Church as a whole - is governed by both the Clergy and the Laity (those who are not ordained). As much as the various “titles” in our church may reflect otherwise, our is not a “magesterium” Church, directed by a hierarchy from the top down. The Episcopal Church in the United States is essentially a “representative democracy”, with Bishops, Clergy, and Laity sharing in our polity and making decisions together. With that said, I want to outline the various ways that we participate with other Episcopalians in our work as Christ’s Body.

           At the most recognizable level, of course, is the local congregation, like St. Francis, with its Lay Leaders and Clergy working together to live and proclaim the Gospel in our respective communities.. Most of the ministry we do as the Body of Christ, and most of the decision-making that directly impacts our members, takes place at this local level. As a local Episcopal congregation, however, we also participate as Clergy and Laity in two other, larger bodies.

          A Deanery is a smaller grouping of multiple congregations that work together for the purpose of common mission, ministry, and relationship in a given geographic area. Our Deanery, for instance - known as the Brandywine Deanery - consists of 14 Episcopal congregations plus Church Farm School, and encompasses nearly all of Chester County and a small sliver of Delaware County. The Clergy and Laity of our Deanery labor to build relationships and establish cooperation in ways that benefit the Deanery as a whole.

          The other body we are part of as a local congregation is the Diocese. A Diocese is a larger geographical grouping of Episcopal congregations, overseen by a Bishop (or Bishops) and their staff, and administered by Clergy and Lay together. The Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, the oldest Episcopal Diocese in the Church (est. 1784), consists of approximately 30,000 members worshiping in 135 congregations across southeastern Pennsylvania. Our Diocese runs from Quakertown, PA, in the northeast down to Oxford, PA, in the southwest, and is bounded on the east and south by the Delaware River. Historically speaking, in the Episcopal Church, the Diocese is the most fundamental unit of ecclesiastical relations, and the Bishop of a Diocese is considered the Chief Pastor of every local congregation.

          Every Diocese, however, also participates in other “bodies” of the Episcopal Church by sending Clergy and Lay representatives. The nine Provinces of the Episcopal Church are a grouping of multiple dioceses, arranged by geography, that come together to discuss common challenges and issues of mission and ministry. Province 3 of the Episcopal Church, for instance, is a collection of Episcopal Diocese from Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. At each of the levels above - local congregations, Deaneries, Dioceses, and Provinces, Lay and Clergy leaders form committees and work together to discern the mind of God and act as Christ’s body in the world.

          But the biggest grouping of Episcopalians by far is the international entity itself that we call The Episcopal Church (sometimes called “The National Church”). There are 108 dioceses in the Episcopal Church, with approximately 1.5 million members. These various Dioceses, with their Bishops and Clergy and Lay representatives, gather every three years for a week-long meeting known as General Convention. At General Convention, decisions are made that impact the mission and ministry of dioceses and  congregations across the nation and around the world. Prayer Book revisions, the approval of experimental liturgies, and management guidelines approved for our church at all levels (known as “Canons”) are among the kinds of work undertaken at General Convention. Other committees of the Episcopal Church as a whole are approved by General Convention and do all sorts of work between triennial meetings. The head of the Episcopal Church, known as the Presiding Bishop, (also called our “Primate”) is a “first among equals." They are called the “Presiding Bishop” because they “preside” at the gatherings of our Bishops.

          In terms of Episcopal Church governance, all that I’ve written about above - local congregations, Deaneries, Diocese, Provinces, and The Episcopal Church as a whole - constitute the various ways we come together as Body of Christ in this world to undertake the mission and ministry to which God calls us. That said, there is one other “Body” to discuss: the Anglican Communion.

          The Anglican Communion is not strictly a “governing body,” but rather the relationship of all worldwide “Anglican” Churches (the various national churches, like the Episcopal Church, historically related to the Church of England). There are 42 autonomous provinces of the Anglican Communion, representing 165 countries and approximately 100 million people around the world. Representatives of this communion (Bishops, Clergy, and Laity) meet in a variety of configurations each year to study, discuss, and collaborate on various Gospel-related issues. The head of the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is a historically-recognized “figurehead” who serves as one point of relationship for all other members of the Anglican Communion, but who retains no actual ecclesiastical authority except in the Church of England itself.

          Now for those of us worshipping and serving in the local congregation, do any of these other relationships matter? Most certainly, yes! We may not always be aware of our relationship to La Iglesia de Cristo y San Ambrosio, Philadelphia, in the Pennypack Deanery of our own Diocese; or to the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast in Alabama (Province 4); or to the Church of North India on the far side of the world. But by the nature of our ecclesiology (our “theology of the church”), we are in relationship, and what is important to our siblings in Christ in these and other parts of our communion is relevant to how we consider our place in the larger Christian landscape.