Following the American Revolution, Church of England congregations in the former colonies reorganized themselves as an independent church - independent from the King of England as the head of its church. The new church took the name Episcopal to emphasize the historic ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons.
Being a product of its time in history, many of the creators of the new church were also the founders of America's new government. Two-thirds of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were Episcopalians and the services for the inauguration of George Washington were performed by the first Bishop of New York and rector of Trinity Church, Samuel Provoost.
Today, members of our church are known both as "Episcopalians" and "Anglicans." The Episcopal Church (TEC) is one of 38 autonomous national churches that are part of the Anglican Communion. With 70 million members in 64,000 congregations in 164 countries, the Anglican Communion is the third largest body of Christians in the world, after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox communions.
Episcopalians are the people who are members of the Episcopal Church. "Episcopalian" is the noun; "Episcopal" is the adjective. The word "Episcopal" comes from the Greek word "Episcopos" which means an "overseer" in the New Testament and which refers to "that which pertains to a bishop." Bishops are key leaders in The Episcopal Church, but God did not call them to do his mission work, alone.
The Episcopal Church has also been known as PECUSA (The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America), though it has been officially incorporated as The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Technically, every Episcopalian is a missionary.
LINKS TO MORE INFORMATION
The Episcopal Church - Official Website
History of the Episcopal Church - Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia
