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The Episcopal Church of The Ascension at Fork |
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The Episcopal Church of The Ascension at Fork |
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Home | About Us | History | Calendar | Christian Formation | Newsletter | Our Vicar's Page | Links |
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We believe that the church does not exist to tell people what to believe. The church exists to manifest in whom they are to believe. Are you looking for a Church:
If you are looking for such a church, then the Episcopal Church is for you. We welcome you and invite you into this faith and fellowship of Jesus Christ. |
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH in the United States of America is part of the world wide Anglican Communion which has approximately seventy million members. We claim to be both catholic -- that is, true to the historic and apostolic faith; and protestant -- that is, truly reformed and evangelical. The only required confession of faith is the Apostle's Creed (which is our baptismal creed) and Nicene Creeds which we share with all of Christendom. Our profession of faith is in Holy Baptism and our central act of worship is the Holy Eucharist, also known as Holy Communion. These are the two great Sacraments of the Church, given by Christ as a sure and certain means by which we receive his grace. Since we belong to the historic and apostolic faith, we embrace the other sacramental rites of the Church. They are confirmation, ordination, holy matrimony, reconciliation of a penitent, and unction. Because we are a global church we cannot be parochial or isolationist. Our unity of worship allows for variations which serve to remind us of the universal nature of the Church. Thus, we celebrate our diversity and tolerance is viewed not as an excuse or a sign of weakness, but as our strength. THE LITURGY of the Church is expressed as the "act of the people" in a worshipping community. We worship in accordance with the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) and sing hymns from three different hymnals authorized by the Standing Liturgical Commission. Both the Book of Common Prayer and the hymnals are set forward by authority of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. At our Services you will find Prayer Books and Hymnals in the pews. If you are unfamiliar with our services, you will find these helpful in following the service. The Hymnal numbers are posted on the board at the front of the church and announced. Regardless of your denominational membership, all are invited to receive communion at our table. IN OUR WORSHIP, we are united with past, present, and future generations of Christians. Our worship experience is carried out with a view to the glorification of God, not for our entertainment; thus, Episcopalians are not spectators but participants in worship. Not only do we express ourselves in word but also in gesture. Generally we kneel to pray, we stand to praise, and sit to be instructed. All other devotional gestures are optional and purely personal. Please feel free to do what feels comfortable in our service. For Episcopalians, worship is the most important thing we do, and ultimately this reality should characterize all that we do in every area of our life. WE BELIEVE THAT GOD IS KNOWABLE -- that you can know, experience and have a relationship with God. We believe that all of creation is good. God created each element of his creation and said, "It is good." Jesus said, "the Kingdom of God is in your midst." We can be a part of it now. Therefore we embrace all of life and believe life is to be celebrated. We also refuse to divide the world into the physical and the spiritual. We believe that God is in all that we do and that living a spiritual life is 24 - 7 affair. Salvation is not a merit badge to be earned but a process -- a journey to be lived. WE ARE LOVED. We are never in a position of not being loved by God. When we come together to worship, we come together to celebrate that love, not to get something that is absent to us. The problem humanity faces is not the Lord's presence to us, but rather our presence to God. This is what any sacramental celebration tries to overcome -- not God's distance from us, because there is none, but rather our distance from God and our unawareness of the love that is already there for us. WE ARE IDEALISTS. We take words like peacemaker, mercy, grace, equality, and so forth seriously. We strive to incarnate those words into this universe. We believe in living into the ideals of Jesus and forgiving ourselves and others when we fail to do so. We are content to LIVE WITH QUESTIONS. Ours is a "seeker-friendly" church where we believe God will meet us wherever we are on our spiritual journey. We do not believe that we have to have an answer for everything. We have an intense respect for thoughtful holiness. We resist giving people simple answers to complex questions. We do not see ourselves in opposition to any field of inquiry, but in concert with it. We are a people of COMMON PRAYER. The spiritual journey is a communal activity. When we ask a person to walk the way of Jesus, we are asking her to do so in the company of fellow travelers. The people of God who we call the Church are here to strengthen and encourage one another in our spiritual life. We do this when we come together for our common act of worship and learning. We do this when we care for one another in both the good times and the bad with our ministries of presence, prayer, and kindness. We do this when we work together to alleviate the suffering of those who are oppressed in mind, body, or spirit. And we do this when we invite others to join us on our journey. When we come together as the Church in large or small groups, we are strengthened and encouraged by God and by one another. THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH is a church that meets people wherever they are on their spiritual journey. We are an inclusive church that resists classifying or categorizing the people of God. Your Vestry "The vestry serves as the lay leadership of the Episcopal Church. We take care of the running of the business of the church - and running a church is very similar to running a business. We take care of the "mundane" administrative details such as making sure the bills get paid, draw up the annual budget, etc. Vestry meetings are not generally closed meetings and any member of the congregation can sit in on a meeting. The Vestry meets the second Monday of each month at the church. We begin each meeting with a devotional/Bible study. The scripture text is taken from the Gospel Based Discipleship booklet from the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. Each day of the year has a scripture text assigned to it. We have someone read the scripture appointed for that day. Then we discuss what words or phrases from the reading stand out for each of us. Then we have the text read again, often from a different translation. Then we discuss what we feel the gospel is calling us to do. After the devotional/Bible study, we discuss the business of the church: finances, the building project, our outreach programs, etc. Most recently we have started the process of re-thinking our Mission Statement. The one we have is 5 years old and we are a different church than we were when it was written; our Mission Statement needs to change with us. More importantly, we need to address how best to be good stewards of the wonderful new Parish House we now have." |
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The Episcopal Church of The Ascension at Fork |
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