Reformed Episcopal Church

The Reformed Episcopal Church reveals its evangelical and liturgical heritage in worship which proclaims the gospel through traditional forms, while reaching out to others and emphasizing ministry to families.

Worship has an important relationship to all forms of ministry in the Reformed Episcopal Church. As an evangelical church, it is committed not to divorce worship from true faith. As a liturgical church, it seeks to avoid conducting evangelism in a vacuum. The proclamation of the gospel is for a specific doxological end. This dual emphasis on evangelical faith and worship grows out of the Reformed Episcopal Church's foundation in Holy Scripture. St. Paul, in particular, weaves the two together in his letter to the Romans:

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "?Everyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.?" For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call upon him, for "?Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved?" (Rom. 10:10–14).

The phrase, "?call upon the name of the Lord,?" highlights the connection between true faith and worship. This expression has its origin in the Old Testament, as the predominantly Jewish believers of the first century would have recognized. In fact, the phrase is a direct quote from the Book of Genesis in a context that has everything to do with worship. When the Lord appeared and called Abram to the land of Canaan, God promised the patriarch, "?To your offspring I will give this land?" (Gen. 12:7). Abram's faithful response to the Word of God is significant: "?He built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord?" (Gen. 12:8). In other words, Abram's first act of faith was to worship God—a pattern which is repeated several times in Genesis (cf. 13:4, 33). When one reads St. Paul's comments to the Romans with the Old Testament background in mind, one understands that evangelical faith and worship are vitally linked. The apostle was not making faith the end of worship, but a means to worship. He wanted the Romans to associate living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ with Christ's altar of worship. He called for faith that worships and faithful worship that acts.

Influenced by the association of these great evangelical and liturgical truths, the Reformed Episcopal Church has developed worship and related ministries in several areas. Evangelism and Worship First, evangelism has been directly related to worship in the denomination. The Prayer Book of the Reformed Episcopal Church essentially follows that one produced by Thomas Cranmer, the sixteenth-century Archbishop of Canterbury, who was martyred for his convictions. It reflects the leading evangelical emphasis of the Reformation: justification by faith. Henry James Burgess points out that the Prayer Book services are the "?best liturgical expression of justification by faith?" (Prayer Book Spirituality [1987], 15). The pattern of this form of worship is the acknowledgment of sin, the proclamation of grace, and the response of faith. In other words, the worship service moves through a basic statement of the gospel. In particular, the liturgies (the Daily Office and Communion) move through this pattern three times each service. The effect is that a person is evangelized through the liturgy itself. Many parishes of the Reformed Episcopal Church have applied the evangelical character of the Prayer Book to specific evangelistic efforts. One example is the concept of St. Andrew's days. The apostle Andrew is the prototype of evangelism, for he was the first disciple to bring someone to Jesus. Specific Sundays are designated St. Andrew's days in order to encourage the inviting of friends and even non-Christians to church. Usually a Morning Prayer service is conducted on this day because it does not include the Eucharist. Sometimes these days coincide with a Sunday when a baptism is performed because of the particular evangelical opportunity and message of this sacrament. St. Andrew's days have become quite effective in church development and revitalization; both new and established churches have utilized the concept. The approach can be combined with other appropriate outreach methods, such as calling people who have not attended church for some time to invite them to come. St. Andrew's days are a primary example of the relationship between worship and other ministries in the congregation. Worship and Family Ministry One other area of ministry related to worship involves work with families, especially children. Again, evangelical commitment has opened up new ways to reach families through the worship of God. The Reformed Episcopal Church has always focused on the need to believe in Christ, not just as individuals, but as a family. The practice of infant baptism is a reminder that entire households can "?call on the name of the Lord.?" Since families can come to Christ and be part of his kingdom, they can also be part of the worship service. Mothers and fathers are encouraged to participate in Scripture reading and prayer as lay readers. Children light candles, sing in choirs, and join in special children's moments when the minister or some other person offers a Bible story geared to the child's level. In some parishes, families bake the bread for Communion and present it as a family when the offering is received just before the Eucharist. In all of these ways, families actively participate in the worship of God. Jesus' comment about children, "?The kingdom of God belongs to such as these?" (Luke 18:16), has become a real and tangible part of Reformed Episcopal worship. Worship is not isolated from the rest of life. It is at the center of life, similar to the hub of a wheel. Yet, if the analogy can be extended, there are spokes which radiate from the hub. These spokes are the related ministries. Just as the hub turns the spokes, so worship guides the ministries. But just as a hub cannot provide movement by itself, neither can worship remain in a vacuum. Worship can and must produce life, the real life of ministry inside and outside the living community of the body of Christ.