Here at the Decker Prairie Church of Christ, we’d put it this way: The Episcopal Church is the American branch of the Anglican tradition, governed by bishops and worshiping from the Book of Common Prayer, with tradition standing alongside Scripture. We hold to the New Testament by itself, answer to no organization beyond this congregation, and keep our worship plain. Rather than argue about labels, we’d rather open the passages that put us where we are.
Matthew 16:18, and What We’re Aiming At
Episcopalians look back through the Church of England, which parted from Rome in the 1500s and sought a middle way between Catholic and Protestant. That tradition became the Episcopal Church on this side of the ocean. They honor the Scriptures and confess Jesus as Lord, most Sundays they observe communion, and reverent worship is important to them.
While we appreciate some of their goals, our aim runs a different direction. We’re not trying to improve a tradition that grew up over centuries. We’re trying to get back behind all of them to the church Jesus promised to build () and do what the New Testament shows. We see this as an ongoing process of learning and adapting to what Scripture teaches.
2 Timothy 3:16-17, Where We Set the Standard
Episcopal teaching leans on Scripture first, with tradition and reason supporting it, and the Book of Common Prayer, a shared book of written services, shapes both worship and doctrine. Their congregations recite the historic creeds together.
We stop at a different place, because of what Paul told Timothy: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (). Complete. Equipped for every good work. If that’s true of a man with only the Scriptures, our congregation has no need to bind a creed or a prayer book on anyone, so we don’t use either. Measure us by the Bible.
Acts 20 and 1 Peter 5, What an Overseer Oversees
The word episcopal is Greek in origin. Episkopos means overseer, and bishops are the frame of that church’s government: parishes belong to dioceses, dioceses answer to bishops, and a presiding bishop leads the national church within the worldwide Anglican Communion.
When we read Acts 20, we see something smaller. Paul sends for the elders of one congregation and charges those same men to oversee and shepherd the flock among them (, ; ; ). Overseer, elder, shepherd: one man, one local job. Nothing above the congregation appears in the text, so we have no bishop over us and no headquarters anywhere. Our elders lead this church, and one head stands above every congregation: “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (). That’s also why we’re careful about what we claim. No congregation speaks for every church wearing this name, and we can only tell you honestly about this one.
Colossians 3:16 and Acts 20:7, What a Sunday Sounds Like Here
Visit an Episcopal parish and you’ll find liturgy: prayers read together from the Prayer Book, clergy in vestments, an organ and often a robed choir, the seasons of the church calendar, and the Eucharist, their name for the Lord’s Supper, most weeks. Weekly communion is real common ground between us.
What you’d hear at Decker Prairie is more basic. Every voice sings and nothing is played, because that’s the work Paul assigns to all of us: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (). Our prayers use ordinary words. The preaching stays in the text. We give as we’ve purposed, and we observe the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week, following the church at Troas: “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them” (). When Luke says they gathered to break bread, he most likely means the Lord’s Supper. We take it as a memorial that proclaims the Lord’s death until He comes ().
Romans 6:4, Why We Immerse Believers
Episcopal churches baptize infants, usually by pouring or sprinkling, receiving the child into the covenant community. It’s done with care, and we won’t caricature it.
We immerse believers, for the forgiveness of sins (), and the reasons are on the page. Faith and repentance come first in the New Testament, and a baby can’t yet do either. Then there’s the picture itself: “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (). Burial means going under. That’s why our baptistry is built the way it is.
Acts 17:11, How to Weigh It
Not by which building is prettier or whose family went where. Luke commends the Bereans for examining the Scriptures every day to test even an apostle’s preaching (), and that’s the standard we’d want you holding us to.
You’re Welcome Here
Our building sits on Hardin Store Road about half a mile east of FM 249, and the sign is easy to miss the first time, so watch for it at the only road leading to the building and follow it around the corner. If a busy life still feels hollow, come spend a Sunday with people who are trying to serve God and each other on purpose.
Plan your visit and we’ll be looking for you.
To read what the Bible says about being saved, start here.
When we meet:
- Sunday: Worship 10:00 am · Bible Class 5:00 pm
- Wednesday: Bible Class 7:30 pm
