What is the Episcopal Church? What do we believe? These are questions that many newcomers have.
We are a Christian church, whose mission is to spread the Good News of God in Christ in a world that is often defined by Bad News. We worship God, who has created us, and called us into new life through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. We believe that scripture, tradition, human reason, and our individual experiences shape us as the Body of Christ. We are a diverse people, divided in many ways in thought and action, but united in love of God and united in worship.
We believe that all the Baptized are called to minister – to serve in Christ’s name. It is our mission to support one another in our baptismal vows:
- To continue in the Apostles' teachings and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread and in the prayers.
- To persevere in resisting evil, by changing our hearts when we have fallen away and returning to God.
- To proclaim the Good News of God in Christ, by word and example.
- To seek and serve Christ in all persons, by loving our neighbor as ourselves.
- To strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.
We worship on Sunday mornings at 10.00 am at the historic church site in Madera at the corner of 4th and A Streets. Our worship alternates between the Morning Prayer service, or the Service of Holy Communion, from the Book of Common Prayer. In both services, we have readings from the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) and the Christian writings of the Epistles and the Gospels. A sermon is a short message of teaching and inspiration of how those readings apply to our lives today. During the Morning Prayer services, we say or sing canticles in response to the readings. The Holy Eucharist, Holy Communion, or the Mass is a service recalling the Last Supper of Jesus and recalling His death and resurrection. It is an opportunity for deeper dedication of our lives to follow in his footsteps and bring healing to a broken world.
We invite you to contact us for more information and to visit us to see if we can explore answers to life's questions together. We also have information about the clergy and some sermons available.
