| Our Beginnings
In the Summer of 1999, a series of discussions began, which ultimately led to the creation of the Free Episcopal Church in the Summer of 2001.
We were a small group of pastors and lay people, who had been drawn together over several years by a common dream: of a church that would take seriously the understanding that God is inviting us forward, to be servants of Christ in our world.
We had led a variety of ministries in several denominations, and had each felt compelled to leave our churches of origin (or were pushed out!). Yet we continued to feel led to faith community. For many of us, that call and that community were outside the traditional parish model. Together, we understood ourselves as pilgrims on faith-filled journeys, into an unknown future.
We dreamed together of a church which would take seriously this understanding that God is inviting us forward, to act for Christ in our world, using our God-given critical reasoning as well as our wounded hearts and finite bodies. We found our charism and calling in ministering 'in the gaps', where large denominations cannot or will not go: bringing the Good News of Christ Jesus to those who would otherwise be passed by, or rejected.
We recognized that Church is true and empowering when it is not just something a person is born into, but rather something a person actively convenants to. And so we each covenanted together to discover anew how to do and be Church.
In that dreaming and praying and visioning a new Church was born, and is daily being re-born as we grow and journey together in faith.
The Free Episcopal Church is a non-profit corporation registered with the Secretary of State, State of Illinois and the County Recorder of DuPage County, IL and recognized as a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
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