Being Episcopalian
St. Asaph’s Church is a parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.  The Diocese of Pennsylvania is a part of the Episcopal Church.  In turn, the Episcopal Church is affiliated with the Anglican Communion.  (This includes the Church of England, the Church of Canada, and many others.

Anglicanism grew out of the unique historical circumstances of late 16th and 17th century England, which was marked by a powerful sense of national identity and whose populace was split between Roman Catholics and Protestants. Long before the Protestant Reformation, the English church was notorious for its sense of independence.  Finally severed from Rome under Henry VII, the Anglican Church took shape theologically under Henry’s three children: Edward VI, a firm Protestant who reigned for six years, long enough to institute the first Book of Common Prayer, a decidedly Protestant document; Mary I, a devout Roman Catholic who reigned for five years, long enough to reinstate certain Catholic practices that Edward had proscribed; and finally the Pragmatic Elizabeth I, who in her forty-year reign labored brilliantly to forge not only a society but an established church that was broad enough to include all but the most extreme Catholics and Protestants.

The result was-- and is-- a church of astonishing breadth. But it is not breadth in a lax, anything-goes sense.  The Anglican Church, when truest to its own theological traditions, views the mind not as a potential instrument of the devil but as a gift from God. And it takes seriously the idea of the community of faith as the context within which people from different backgrounds and with varying perspectives can openly share their experiences of God, can attend to one another in a spirit of love, and can thereby gain insights that may help every member of the community to move somewhat closer to God’s truth. 
(From Stealing Jesus by Bruce Bawer)

Values
St. Asaph’s Church is a house of prayer for all people and a community that works to be progressive in belief and inclusive in practice. We offer the message of Christianity to those who sometimes find organized religion ineffectual, irrelevant, or repressive. We see our faith as an agent of justice and peace. We are a community that embraces search, not certainty. We believe faith is a process, not a destination.

While we are deeply involved in the Anglican (Episcopal) tradition, we are also committed to the diverse and rich theology and worship of the Christian church worldwide and historical. We draw on elements from many different Christian traditions including Anglican, Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran and others.  We desire to be a community where questions are encouraged, where you will not be handed a checklist for orthodoxy, where ambiguity is not the enemy of faith but its partner

.You may occasionally be led to suspend your intellect. But you will not be required to sacrifice it.

Our ministries reflect our deepest values as God’s people. We practice radical hospitality. We’re engaged in the life of our city. We stand with the poor and marginalized.  We are a community of ministers who work to connect with God, with one another, and with the world around us. We’re a community where creative energy thrives, where exploration is celebrated and nourished.This way of being of Christian is not always easy, but it is always worth it.