We seek to provide small faith communities with all of the traditional individual and communal services of the Church, including praise, religious and spiritual education, intercessory prayer, solace and consolation, Christian burial, and the sacraments--Baptism, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Anointing for Healing, Holy Eucharist, Holy Matrimony (Holy Union Same Sex) and Holy Orders.

Our ideal is the life, teachings, and ministry of Jesus Christ. Our norm is a dynamic balance of scripture, the revelation of God's love and promise, fulfilled in Jesus Christ; the tradition of the ancient universal, truly ecumenical Church of Christ,; and experience, with intellectual and spiritual freedom under the guidance of the ongoing inspiration of God's Holy Spirit, individually and communally discerned.

Jesus Christ calls us to change our hearts and mind and to follow Him to new, abundant, and eternal life. He teaches us how to live life here and now, too, and how God loves and cares for us. In Him we experience the infinite compassion, courage, gentleness and power of God. We claim today all that He gained for us throguh his atonement two thousand years ago.

We do not claim to undertand the mysteries of Christ, nor will we presume to tell anyone how to experience them. We simply claim our inheritance of what they accomplished, for that is their purpose and meaning. All are free to experience the mysteries of faith in whatever way they are led, always with the guidance of God's Holy Spirit.

We are one with the ancient undivided Church of Christ. We are not Roman Catholic, not canonical Orthodox, not Protestant. We are pre-schismatic and pre-denominational. We are a free and self-governing episcopate, part of the mystical Body of Christ, the one Church of Christ of the holy, catholic, apostolic, and orthodox Christian faith. We intend to bring the simplicity, spirituality, community, friendship, and vigor of the early Church into present day experience.

We believe that catholicity is preserved through the laying on of hands in succession;through the celebration of the traditional sacraments; and through the ongoing community of the Church, the Body of Christ spread throughout space and time, which is brought into being through the sacraments, is continually formed and reformed through the sacraments, and extends itself into the future through continuing to offer the sacraments to all who sincerely desire to receive them.

We believe in the traditional creeds the Nicene Creed , Apostle Creed. God's Holy Spirit is not limited to creeds but is the catholic faith is best stated in them. Jesus told us, "I no longer call you slaves, but friends." We do not believe that He wants His friends to be the servants of human magisterium (an assumed teaching authority). We believe that the friends of Christ are intended to be the children of God.

We know and trust that the Holy Spirit has never ceased to be active among all communities of Christian believers, drawing us into greated understanding of the one truth of Jesus Christ. Thus, we value the sacred tradition of the Church as a precious gift received from our ancestors, to be tended carefully, mended where it is broken, and faithfully passed on to those who will follow us. The communal discernment of the early Church continues to guide our efforts to be the Body of Christ in the world today. We have found the following expressions of the ancient faith particularly meaningful: the Apostles' and Nicene creeds, the Didache, the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus, the Apostolic Constitutions, and the positive teachings of the seven truly ecumenical Councils of the Church. We read these documents not as relics of the past, dry bones in the desert of another, distant age. For we know that the breath of the Holy Spirit can put new flesh on ancient bones, that they may live again in the Church today.

We are a spiritual community. We wait upon the Spirit of God. Clergy are expected, and laity are encouraged, to activelyfollow a path of Christian spiritual development. Our ecumenical Monastic Association and Society of Soul Friends are dedicated to the spiritual support of everyone in the care of this episcopate (and others, on request). We receive candidates for major Holy Orders through a process of spiritual discernment. Mentors help each candidate to discern the nature of the individual calling and Gifts of the Spirit, the style of ministry which will be most meaningful, and the further study and experience needed to spiritually, academically, and professionally develop each candidate's vocation and choice of ministry.

Community decisions not affecting the character or integrity of our apostolic tradition, succession or sacraments are made by Spirit-filled communal discernment. Ministries are encouraged to include time within all forms of worship for silent discernment, extemporaneous prayer, prophecy, and meaningful response to God. This is especially true whenever Scripture is part of worship, such as the Liturgy of the Hours and the Liturgy of the Word in Holy Eucharist. In matters which do affect the character or integrity of our tradition, succession or sacraments, our Bishop Ordinary prayerfully hears the needs, preferences and discernment of laity and clergy, waits upon God's Holy Spirit; and makes Spirit-filled decisions on behalf of the episcopate.

Through the laying of hands by bishops who have received this blessing in the same manner, our bishops have received the Holy Spirit's blessing to confer the traditional apostolic sacrament of Holy Orders. Our bishops, deacons, and priests offer the seven sacraments as instituted by Jesus Christ and His Apostles, and practiced by the Apostles and the early Church. Bishops oversee the character and integrity of communal worship, religious and spiritual education, and the sacraments. Bishops may offer all seven sacraments--Baptism, Confirmation, or Chrismation, Reconciliation, Holy Eucharist, Anointing for Healing, Holy Matrimony (Holy Union Same Sex), and Holy Orders.

Deacons proclaim the Gospel; pray for the living and the dead; and may offer the sacraments of Baptism, Anointing for Healing, and Holy Matrimony(Holy Union Same Sex) in the absence of a priest. Priests may offer the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist in addition to Baptism, Anointing for Healing, and Holy Matrimony; and may confer Confirmation or Chrismation in the absence of a bishop. Mature priest, if appointed as archpriest or blessed as abbots or abbessed by their bishop, may confer minor Holy Orders with their bishop's permission.

This episcopate takes seriously the advice of the prophet Isaiah, to mend breaches and restore ruined paths. We have a special place in our hearts for the spiritually and sacramentally disenfranchised. We prepare, ordain and provide episcopal care for women and men, with discernment but without discrimination, encouraging authentic ministry which might otherwise never develop in God's holy Church due to disheartening human bias, marginalization and trivialization.

The "minor" Holy Orders (cleric, doorkeeper, reader, healer and acolyte) are an integral part of local ministry. Minor Holy Orders are not required in readiness for major Holy Orders, although each minor Order does convey certain graces which enhance practical aspects of ministry which can in turn mature into the diaconate and priesthood. Preparation for minor Holy Orders is guided by the local care-giving ministry of the candidate whenever possible.

Our clergy in the "major" offices of sub-deacon, deacon, priest, archpriest, and bishop are professionals, albeit professionals who work with the spontaneous vitality of the early Church (not unline the Zen concept of "beginner's mind"), and are rarely salaried for their efforts. Our candidates for major Holy Orders enjoy the care of an established care-giving ministry to provide them with a vital community until candidates can begin to build their own communities. Care-giving ministries nurture attitudes of friendship, spirituality and service, and facilitate and evaluate candidate readiness for ordination. Our candidates for Holy Orders are expected to demonstrate a spiritual foundation, compassion, empathy, the ability to listen to others without overemphasizing their own opinions, and most especially the ability to point toward God rather than toward oneself.

When we are forced to learn and articulate a specified, rigid system of ideas and beliefs, we tend to also believe that this exact system is necessary for everyone else. It is impossible to allow others freedom of thought and expression until we stand firmly on the ground of our own personal relationship with God, and of the knowledge and experience of our own thoughts and beliefs. Candidates for major Holy Orders in this episcopate must demonstrate an ability to think and to express themselves authentically on a wide range of traditional and contemporary spiritrual and ecclesiastical issues, as well as a willingness to listen to, hear and allow the thoughts and expressions of others, even as we keep and nurture our Christian apostolic tradition.