What We Believe

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

The Particulars

God:

We believe in one God. The one God is three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Jesus:

We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is of one being with the Father. In the Incarnation, the Son of God became man and was born of the Virgin Mary. He is of one being with humanity. Jesus is fully God and fully human.

We believe that Jesus died on a cross and was resurrected on the third day, before ascending into heaven. By His death and resurrection, the reign of sin and death have been defeated; humanity has been reconciled to God and called to live under the reign of our rightful Lord-Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Holy Scripture:

We believe that the Holy Scriptures contain all things necessary to salvation and are comprised of the canonical Books of the Old and New Testament. The Scriptures are “living and active” and thus able to address us in our particular historical situation. In them, God speaks the gospel, and the content of the gospel is Jesus Christ.

Church:

We believe that the Church is the Body of Christ, of which Jesus Christ is the Head, and is comprised of all those who have been baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Sacraments:

We believe that the Sacraments are outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace. The two greatest Sacraments given by Christ to the Church are Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist.

Holy Baptism is the Sacrament by which God adopts us as his children and makes us members of Christ's Body, the Church, and inheritors of the kingdom of God. The outward and visible sign in Baptism is water, in which the person is baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The inward and spiritual grace in Baptism is union with Christ in his death and resurrection, birth into God's family the Church, forgiveness of sins, and new life in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Eucharist is the Sacrament commanded by Christ for the continual remembrance of his life, death, and resurrection, until his coming again. It is the Church's sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, whereby the sacrifice of Christ is made present, and in which he unites us to his one offering of himself. The outward and visible sign in the Eucharist is bread and wine, given and received according to Christ's command. The inward and spiritual grace in the Holy Communion is the Body and Blood of Christ given to his people, and received by faith.

The Anglican Tradition:

The Episcopal Church finds its roots in the Church of England, which stretches all the way back to when England was evangelized in the 5th and 6th centuries by St. Augustine of Canterbury.

Since then, the Anglican Tradition continued to develop through the English Reformation of the 16th century and beyond, eventually expanding across the globe and intersecting with a diversity of cultures and places. Today, the Anglican Communion comprises the third largest communion of Christians in the world.