The Episcopal Church in the United States of America

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Drake made a hazardous journey around South America and sailed up the Pacific Coast. His ship, Golden Hinde, needed water and docked in what is now known as Drake's Bay, near San Francisco. The Rev. Francis Fletcher, Chaplain and historian for Drake, held a Prayer Book service of the Church of England for the ship's crew. The year was 1579, and this was the first time a service had been held in English in North America. It was also the first time the Prayer Book had been used in the Western world.

Within the next decade, a group under the leadership of Sir Waiter Raleigh made the first real attempt to settle in America. They landed on Roanoke Island, Virginia, around 1585. In 1587, Manteo became the first American Indian to be baptized by a Church of England officiant. One week later, Virginia Dare was the first white child to be baptized in North America. A short while later, the group disappeared altogether, probably massacred by hostile Indians.

In 1607, a colony of English Church people was established at Jamestown, Virginia. The Rev. Robert Hunt, a priest from the Church of England, administered the service of Holy Communion, the first such English service in America.

Thus the start of the Church in America was humble and the succeeding years were marked by ups and downs.

Until 1630, Virginia was the primary focus of English colonial efforts. In that year, however, a group of English Christians from the counties of East Anglia established a new colony at Massachusetts Bay. These settlers were drawn from the Puritan party of the Church of England; they believed that the Church needed further change. Initially, they hoped their alterations, such as abolition of the Book of Common Prayer, would be imitated back home. When, in 1660, it became evident that the English Church would take no such course, they became a separate Congregational Church. Until the 1830's, this would remain the established Church of Massachusetts and a strong opponent of Anglican efforts at evangelism.

Two missionary societies, founded in England by the Rev. Thomas Bray, assisted greatly the establishment of congregations of the Church of England in all the Colonies. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK), founded in 1699, aided in establishing libraries. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG), founded in 1701, greatly strengthened the colonial Church. The SPG sent money, Bibles, Prayer Books and religious tracts, helped to maintain the clergy, and aided in the conversion of Indians and Blacks to Christianity.

With SPG and SPCK support, Anglicans were able to initiate a ministry in New England, chiefly among the lower classes. While some clergy who served in New England were recent arrivals from England, others such as Timothy Cutler and Samuel Johnson, who converted to the Church of England in 1722 while teaching at Yale College, were American-born.

In New York, the Church was growing rapidly and continued to do so, up to the time of the Revolution. In Maryland, under the Act of Religious Freedom, Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Puritans existed together. During this time of toleration, the Church of England became the established Church of Maryland.

As the Church of England grew in America, colonial Anglicans began to recognize their need for a resident bishop. In the 1680's and 90's, the Bishop of London, Henry Compton, began to appoint Episcopal representatives for the colonies (whom he called commissaries). It would not be until after the American Revolution, however, that the Episcopal Church in America had its first bishops.

The War itself had a devastating effect on the Church of England in America. Many Anglican clergy, of whom all had taken oaths of allegiance to the English Crown, sided with the British--refusing to omit prayers for King George III from the liturgy. As a result, many were imprisoned or were driven away from their parishes. At the War's end, the American Anglicans lacked parish clergy and had lost the benefits of being an established Church.

In these difficult post-War years, two men provided the leadership necessary to reorganize the Anglican Church as an American denomination.

Beginning in 1782, William White, later bishop of Pennsylvania (1787), led the effort to form a legislative body (the General Convention, which first met in 1785) and to gain recognition from the Church in England.

Samuel Seabury, of Connecticut, stressing the importance of the episcopate, traveled to England and then to Scotland to secure consecration as the first American bishop (1784).

The two men worked independently for a time, but in 1789 they joined together with their respective supporters to form the Protestant Episcopal Church. The effort at reorganization of the Episcopal Church did not, however, end at the General Convention of 1789. Episcopalians had to deal on a local and diocesan level with the severe shortage of clergy, a loss of income that resulted from the disestablishment of the Church in certain States, and a government takeover of Church educational institutions (such as the College of William and Mary in Virginia).

The revitalization effort of the Church in the East occupied the denomination for much of the following twenty years, with little resulting interest in founding new congregations in the territory west of the Appalachian Mountains, into which American settlers were moving.

In the second decade of the nineteenth century, however, the Church awakened to its missionary task:

John Henry Hobart became the Bishop of New York in 1811, pioneering missionary work in that State and founding General Theological Seminary for the training of clergy. In the same year (1811), Alexander V. Griswold became the Bishop for what was known as the Eastern Diocese (the New England States). At his death, his diocese had been replaced by five dioceses, and four new bishops had been added.

Richard Channing Moore, who became Bishop of Virginia in 1814, helped the missionary expansion of the Church in the South and was responsible for the founding of Virginia Theological Seminary, in 1823.

The great bulk of Western missionary expansion fell on the capable shoulders of Philander Chase, who became Bishop of Ohio in 1819. He founded Kenyon College and Bexley Hall in Ohio. Later he became Bishop of Michigan and then of Illinois. He was also the first Protestant churchman to serve in Louisiana.

The General Convention of 1835 declared that all members of the Episcopal Church, by virtue of their Baptism, are missionaries of the Church and members of the Missionary Society. Church people were called out, like the disciples in the early Church, to be the Church and help it to grow.

Jackson Kemper was consecrated the Missionary Bishop of the Northwest, spreading the work of the Church into Indiana and Missouri, and later to Wisconsin.

Among the many others who assisted in this westward movement of the Church were James Lloyd Breck, founder of Nashotah House and Seabury Seminaries, and Henry B. Whipple, the Minnesota bishop whose efforts led to the strong ministry of the Episcopal Church among the Sioux of Minnesota and the Dakotas.

William I. Kip, missionary, became the first Bishop of California in 1857.

Then came the Civil War. In 1861, a Convention was held in South Carolina. The Church seemed to be headed for division into North and South; however, at the 1862 Convention, a roll call was held as if nothing had happened. In 1865, at the first Convention to be held after the War ended, the Church faced a critical moment. Would a split take place similar to that which had occurred in the Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian denominations? But a good spirit and Christian fellowship prevailed, and the Church remained united.

Among the early voices raised against slavery in America was that of Absalom Jones, a Black who had been ordained priest by Bishop White in 1804. Because of his ministry, the Church's work among Blacks was greatly strengthened.

As the frontiers expanded, more missionaries went to the West; others preached the Gospel to the Indians and the Blacks. Missionary work in Haiti, Mexico, Southern Brazil, and Alaska was added to older foreign mission endeavors in Liberia, China, and Japan. Bishops went to Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Hawaii, and to the Panama Canal Zone. American churches were springing up in Europe. The Church Divinity School of the Pacific was begun in 1893 to provide for the training of clergy in the West.

Until recently, Church historians have neglected the crucial role played by women in the Episcopal Church. Their early contributions as teachers and missionaries were of immense importance. Mary Abbot Emery was appointed general secretary of the newly established Woman's Auxiliary of the Board of Missions in 1872. For the next thirty years she organized women for mission and encouraged vocations for women in the Church. After her marriage to A.T. Twing, she continued to travel and promote domestic missions.

The establishment of orders of Sisters, the Deaconess movement, and the expansion of women's vocations continued into the twentieth century. The American Episcopal Church finally approved the ordination of women as priests at the Convention of 1976 and has been in the forefront in promoting the equality of women in religious vocations in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Today, women serve as rectors and vicars in steadily increasing numbers and serve in all the specialized ministries of the Church.

From the General Convention in Chicago, in 1886, came the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral. Lambeth, in 1888, approved the actions of the Chicago Convention in their proposed basis for the reunion of Christendom. The Lambeth Quadrilateral has since served as the Anglican approach toward union with other Churches. It proposed the following as essential to the restoration of unity among the divided Churches:

The Episcopal Church has participated in ecumenical and conciliar efforts throughout the twentieth century. Its representatives assisted in the formation of the World and National Councils of Churches. In more recent years, Episcopalians have been engaged in vigorous dialogue with Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, and Reformed Churches (including the Consultation on Church Union). These efforts have resulted in lively statements related to Church, Ministry, and Sacraments.

The revision of the Book of Common Prayer in 1892 established greater freedom in Church worship. Many of the "English" aspects of the Prayer Book were eliminated. The next revision did not occur until 1928. The most recent Proposed Book of Common Prayer was the result of a long trial period dating to the mid-1960's and ending with its adoption in the Conventions of 1976 and 1979.

Increased interest in the historical development of Christian liturgy, with access to more sources, has led to greater diversity in worship. A new, enlarged hymnal (containing a rich fare of Service Music) was adopted in 1982.

The need for more efficient administration of the Episcopal Church between Conventions was recognized in the twentieth century. The General Convention in Detroit, in 1919, reorganized the Church; the National Council was formed to provide greater continuity. The House of Bishops, with the approval of the House of Deputies, were empowered to elect a Presiding Bishop who would serve a six-year term and be president of (and oversee the work of) the National Council and its departments: Missions, Religious Education, Social Service, Publicity, Finance, and Field. The Women's Auxiliary program was included as a part of the work of the National Council. A general Church budget came into being, and funds from the Church-at-large were used to support the National Church program. Later, the National Council's name was changed to the Executive Council. Numerous structural changes have been made through the years, occasioned by changing factors in the Church society.

With the increased organization and growth of the Church, the job of the Presiding Bishop became a full-time vocation. In 1937, the Rt. Rev. Henry St. George Tucker became the first full-time Presiding Bishop.

Today, a Presiding Bishop serves a maximum of twelve years, or until the General Convention after he is sixty-five years of age. The Most Reverend Edmond Lee Browning was consecrated as the 24th Presiding Bishop on January 11, 1986.

We may say that, today, the Episcopal Church is "new" as well as "old." Its heritage is that of Christ and the Apostles. It is preserved, and has been preserved, by the strengthening action of the Holy Spirit within its members. Because it is the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, founded upon the foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets, given life by the Holy Spirit, it continues to live and move and have its being in the lives of all who accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Because the Church is the living Body of Christ today, it adapts itself continually in every time and place--without sacrificing its One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic nature.