What we Believe

Here at Zion we are family: this means we go through life's milestones together, occasionally vary in our opinions and points of view about doctrine, but make room for each other. Here are the basic shared beliefs for the Episcopal Church.

As one of the branches of western Christianity, we affirm the Nicene Creed and Apostle's Creed , two ancient statements about the Christian faith. We believe the Bible is divinely inspired, and scripture is a cornerstone of our worship together and of our individual spiritual practice. The catechism (a summary of the Episcopal faith in question and answer format) provides additional detail about our beliefs, and is used as a starting point for further conversation.

The Eucharist (also known as communion, mass, or the Lord's Supper) is central to our worship, but we also say together Morning Prayer (an order of worship we follow together) on some Sundays. Our practice of worship is richly liturgical, which means in part that our services have repeated, familiar elements contained in the Book of Common Prayer and other resources used by the worldwide Anglican Communion.

There is room for active questioning and discernment about interpretation of doctrines, however, and issues about ordination and social justice have been questioned on both national and individual parish levels in recent years.