Who we are:
Our Mission
Our Vision
Our Expectation
To Embrace, Empower, and Equip ordinary people to live extraordinary lives for the Kingdom of God.
That everyone who comes in contact with our church knows they are Embraced by God's love, Empowered to do the miraculous, and Equipped to impact the world.
Our services are participatory, engaging, and uplifting. Our prayers are led by the Pastor and by the congregation, dynamic music, Communion, and an encouraging sermon based on God’s word. We are a community of Christians who care more that you are here than what you wear. So please come as you are and as you feel comfortable.
In our Parish we are:
Liturgical
Sacramental
Missional
The Diocese of Western Massachusetts
The Anglican Church first came to the United States of America in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607 and got a foothold in the very heart of Puritan New England with the establishment of St. James’ Parish, Great Barrington, the first Anglican parish in what is now the Diocese of Western Massachusetts. In 1701 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, later commonly known as the “S.P.G” was founded. Between 1701 and the outbreak of the American Revolution, the S.P.G. sent to America and provided support for no fewer than 353 Anglican priests. Included among then were Solomon Palmer, the first priest to hold services and administer sacraments according to the Prayer Book in Great Barrington; Thomas Davies, the priest who organized what is now St. James’ Parish in 1762; and Gideon Bostwick, St. James’ first Rector. The strength of the Church of England in Connecticut and the fact that Berkshire County, Massachusetts enjoyed an easier access to the sea down the Housatonic Valley rather than across the Berkshire Barrier to Boston, help to explain why the first two Anglican parishes in Western Massachusetts were Great Barrington (1762) and Lanesborough (1767) – both of them on the Housatonic River, and why their early priests came to them from the Diocese of Connecticut rather than from the Diocese of Massachusetts until
after the beginning of the
nineteenth century.
After Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the United States in 1783, the Anglican parishes in each of the thirteen American states organized themselves into dioceses, and when a means of support could be found, elected bishops. Connecticut was the first diocese to have a Bishop. On March 25, 1783 ten priests met at St. Paul’s Parish, Woodbury to choose Samuel Seabury. Tradition has it that one of the ten was Gideon Bostwick, the first Rector of Great Barrington, which for convenience of travel was part of the Diocese of Connecticut until 1804. The Diocese of Massachusetts came into being on September 8, 1784, when its first convention was held at Boston. The first Bishop of Massachusetts, who was elected on May 24, 1796 and consecrated in 1797 was Edward Bass (1797-1803); followed by Samuel Parker (1804); Alexander Viets Griwsold (1811-43); Manton Eastburn (1843-72); Benjamin Henry Paddock (1873-91); Phillips Brooks (1891-93); and then William Lawrence (1893-1927).
The rapid growth of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Massachusetts during the latter part of the nineteenth century was becoming too large for efficient administration under a single Bishop. On June 14, 1901, after ten years of a division being under discussion, the Convention assembled and Bishop William Lawrence
presented an address to the Convention, giving history of the
successive attempts to divide the Diocese and the difficulties such a division involved. He stated that he believed “the time had come when the spiritual interest of the Church in Massachusetts demanded a division at the earliest date consistent with justice to the Churches in the west.” The dividing line was drawn and a committee was appointed to raise the sum of $100,000 within the limits of the eastern Diocese and give it to the new Diocese in lieu of all claims upon the funds of the Diocese of Massachusetts. The western part of the state did not want the Diocese divided. The final decision left the west with fifty clergymen and between 45 and 50 parishes and missions. The gift of $100,000, though generous, was not sufficient.
Appropriate committees for the organization and governing of the new diocese, officially recognized as The Diocese of Western Massachusetts, were appointed at the organizing convention of November 10, 1901. A special meeting at Christ Church on January 22, 1902, elected as Bishop the Rev. Alexander Hamilton Vinton D.D., Rector of All Saints Church in Worcester (1902-11). Although Bishop Vinton’s primary problem was financial, he also addressed how to consolidate parishes and missions with no previous center. Springfield, easily accessible from every part of western Massachusetts, was selected as the see city.
The Anglican Community
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The Scriptures
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The Sacraments
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The Creed
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The Episcopate
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Our Province: The Episcopal Church
We, people of the Episcopal Church of Anglican Heritage.
The mission of the Episcopal church, as stated in the Book of Common Prayer’s catechism (p. 855), is:
"To restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ."
As part of that mission, we are following Jesus into a loving, liberating and life-giving relationship with God. With each other and with the earth as the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement. We seek every day to love God with our whole heart, mind and soul, and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40).
For the Episcopal Church, the Jesus Movement calls us to focus on three specific Priorities:
Evangelism
Reconciliation
Creation care
Listen for Jesus' movement
in our lives and in the world. Give thanks. Proclaim and celebrate it! Invite the Spirit
to do the rest.
Embody the loving, liberating, life-giving way of Jesus with each other.
Encounter and honor the face of God in creation.