Welcome to St. James Episcopal Church. We are located in Au Sable Forks, New York. St. James is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, New York; the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America and the Worldwide Anglican Communion. St. James was established in 1876. The corner stone for St. James Church building was laid on June 15, 1876. The first service was held on Christmas Eve, 1876.
St. James Episcopal Church is a joyful, growing, diverse community of people of deep faith in Jesus Christ. We are a welcoming and loving community responding to the Great Commission, partnering with Christ sharing the Good News. We welcome all people to come, celebrate and serve with us. We at St. James pray that wherever you are on your journey in life, that you may find God's presence here with us. Come and join us for worship!
St. James Episcopal Church is a joyful, growing, diverse community of people of deep faith in Jesus Christ. We are a welcoming and loving community responding to the Great Commission, partnering with Christ sharing the Good News. We welcome all people to come, celebrate and serve with us. We at St. James pray that wherever you are on your journey in life, that you may find God's presence here with us. Come and join us for worship!
St. James Mission Statement
The mission of St. James Episcopal Church is to share the knowledge of the love, peace, and grace of God through Jesus Christ, and to nurture and refresh all who are in travail and heavy laden, trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Worship with us!
St. James Episcopal Church worships in the traditional Anglican manner using the Book of Common Prayer. We also worship using a mixture of traditional hymns, classic spirituals, and contemporary praise music.
Our service contains two main parts; they are the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
The Liturgy of the Word is where we all read Holy Scripture, have a teaching/sermon, and where we as one body come together and profess our faith by reciting the Nicene Creed.
St. James is a liturgical church, which means that we share in a tradition of worship that goes back to the early days of Christianity. The term “liturgy” comes from the Greek word meaning “the work of the people.” We take much care for the liturgy at St. James not because we want it to look a certain way, or that we are fixated on the rubric itself, but because it is the lived-out expression of what we all believe in, and offer it to the praise and the glory of God.
The Latin phrase, lex orandi lex credendi ("the rule of praying is the rule of belief") is used in the Anglican Churches to express the connection between the liturgy and doctrine. Therefore, what we believe is simply not a collection of doctrines or ideas put together randomly , but it should find its expression in the way in which we all worship. Overall, habits of prayer shape our Christian belief. This points and brings our attention to the importance of The Book of Common Prayer in our worship, for it guides our worship. For us, our worship shapes the content of what we believe and we enact what we believe in the context of our worship. There is a connection.
This is all followed by The Liturgy of the Eucharist. This is where the priest consecrates the Bread and the Wine so that it becomes the sacramental body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through the action of the Holy Spirit. Partaking in Holy Communion brings us into spiritual union with Christ.
All baptized Christians are welcome to partake by coming forward to the Altar for Communion. All others are welcome to come up for prayer.
Healing Prayer:
Healing Prayer is available at the Altar after service. Please come up. Our Healing Prayer Team is available to "Listen, Love & Pray."
After the service:
After the service dismissal, all are invited to the Parish Hall for coffee hour. This is a great time of fellowship! Coffee, tea, beverages and snacks are offered for all to partake. Come join us! All are welcome!
Our beliefs:
We proclaim the central principle of our faith: "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again."
St. James professes its faith by using the ancient creeds of the church which are recited in our services: The Apostles’ Creed and The Nicene Creed. We believe in the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We also believe in the communion of saints, which also includes a very special place for the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ; The Blessed Virgin Mary.
We affirm that salvation is by grace though faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that the Old and New Testaments contain all things necessary for salvation.
We at St. James Episcopal Church are followers of Jesus Christ, and both our worship and our mission are Christ-centered. It is through Jesus Christ that we are able to find the nature and character of God which is love, and through the Holy Sacrament of baptism, we share in our Lord Jesus Christ victory over sin and death. Praise God!
St. James Episcopal Church worships in the traditional Anglican manner using the Book of Common Prayer. We also worship using a mixture of traditional hymns, classic spirituals, and contemporary praise music.
Our service contains two main parts; they are the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
The Liturgy of the Word is where we all read Holy Scripture, have a teaching/sermon, and where we as one body come together and profess our faith by reciting the Nicene Creed.
St. James is a liturgical church, which means that we share in a tradition of worship that goes back to the early days of Christianity. The term “liturgy” comes from the Greek word meaning “the work of the people.” We take much care for the liturgy at St. James not because we want it to look a certain way, or that we are fixated on the rubric itself, but because it is the lived-out expression of what we all believe in, and offer it to the praise and the glory of God.
The Latin phrase, lex orandi lex credendi ("the rule of praying is the rule of belief") is used in the Anglican Churches to express the connection between the liturgy and doctrine. Therefore, what we believe is simply not a collection of doctrines or ideas put together randomly , but it should find its expression in the way in which we all worship. Overall, habits of prayer shape our Christian belief. This points and brings our attention to the importance of The Book of Common Prayer in our worship, for it guides our worship. For us, our worship shapes the content of what we believe and we enact what we believe in the context of our worship. There is a connection.
This is all followed by The Liturgy of the Eucharist. This is where the priest consecrates the Bread and the Wine so that it becomes the sacramental body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through the action of the Holy Spirit. Partaking in Holy Communion brings us into spiritual union with Christ.
All baptized Christians are welcome to partake by coming forward to the Altar for Communion. All others are welcome to come up for prayer.
Healing Prayer:
Healing Prayer is available at the Altar after service. Please come up. Our Healing Prayer Team is available to "Listen, Love & Pray."
After the service:
After the service dismissal, all are invited to the Parish Hall for coffee hour. This is a great time of fellowship! Coffee, tea, beverages and snacks are offered for all to partake. Come join us! All are welcome!
Our beliefs:
We proclaim the central principle of our faith: "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again."
St. James professes its faith by using the ancient creeds of the church which are recited in our services: The Apostles’ Creed and The Nicene Creed. We believe in the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We also believe in the communion of saints, which also includes a very special place for the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ; The Blessed Virgin Mary.
We affirm that salvation is by grace though faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that the Old and New Testaments contain all things necessary for salvation.
We at St. James Episcopal Church are followers of Jesus Christ, and both our worship and our mission are Christ-centered. It is through Jesus Christ that we are able to find the nature and character of God which is love, and through the Holy Sacrament of baptism, we share in our Lord Jesus Christ victory over sin and death. Praise God!
St. James Episcopal Church 14216 NYS RT 9N Au Sable Forks, NY