About St. Alban’s Episcopal Church

© 2006-2008 DCE

St. Alban’s is one of over 7,300 congregations of the Episcopal Church in the United States. The Episcopal Church is one of over 30 national churches in the world who owe their origins to missionaries from the Church of England. Taken together, those national churches form what is known as the Anglican Communion, comprising over 80 million Christians on all continents of the globe. They claim unity with one another through their common relationship with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the ecclesiastical head of the Church of England

The Episcopal Church is so named because its chief pastors are bishops. "Episcopal" comes from the Greek word for bishop, "episcopoi," which means "overseer." All congregations in a geographical area known as a "diocese" and, therefore, all individuals in those congregations are under the "oversight" of a bishop. St. Alban’s is one of 53 congregations under the oversight of the Rt. Rev. Todd Oulsey, the Bishop of Eastern Michigan, which is that area of the lower peninsula approximately north of Macomb and Oakland Counties and east of U.S. Route 27 and, further north, I-75.

Episcopalians value this form of organization because it unites our ministry to the ministry of other congregations throughout the state, the nation, and the world. Through the pastoral office of the Bishop we are kept accountable to one another, to the national church, and to the Anglican Communion. This accountability is the tangible way that we remain accountable to our Lord Jesus Christ, because no priest and no congregation can act independently of this structure.

The Episcopal form of organization assures us that the way St. Alban’s expresses the Good News of God’s salvation in word and action will be faithful to the scriptures and traditions of the Christian Church. In this, St. Alban’s is a modern extension of the mission of the historic Christian Church that traces its origins to the first apostles of God’s only Son, Jesus Christ. That mission is, as it has always been, the presentation of Jesus Christ to the world in the power of the Holy Spirit in such ways that persons are led to believe in him as Savior and follow him as Lord within the fellowship of the Church.

Worship is the most important way St. Alban’s carries on this mission. In our worship services, the saving power of God’s love in Jesus Christ is proclaimed through the reading of lessons from scripture and through sermons based upon those lessons. Worshipers at St. Alban’s are given strength to proclaim this good news in their daily life and work through a tangible, intimate relationship with Jesus given them when they receive the bread and wine embodying Christ’s mystical Body and Blood in the sacrament of Holy Communion.

St. Albans Episcopal Church

105 S. Erie Street

Bay City, Michigan    48706-4431