Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States

The Episcopal Church
The arms of the Episcopal Church includes both a St George's Cross and a St. Andrew's cross composed of nine cross crosslets
Founded	1789
Primate	Michael Curry
Polity	Episcopal
Headquarters	815 Second Avenue New York, New York United States
Territory	United States further dioceses in Taiwan, Micronesia, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Europe
Members	1,494,652 communicant members and 1,917,182 active baptized members (2015) 1,779,335 active baptized members in the U.S.
Website	www.episcopalchurch.org

The Episcopal Church (TEC) is the United States-based member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a Christian church divided into nine provinces and has dioceses in the United States, Taiwan, Micronesia, the Caribbean, Central and South America, as well as the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe and the Navajoland Area Mission. The current presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church is Michael Bruce Curry, the first African American bishop to serve in that position.

In 2015,^[update] the Episcopal Church had 1,917,182 active baptized members, of whom 1,779,335 were members located in the United States. In 2011,^[update] it was the nation's 14th largest denomination. In 2015,^[update]Pew Research estimated that 1.2 percent of the adult population in the United States, or 3 million people, self-identify as mainline Episcopalians/Anglicans.

The church was organized after the American Revolution, when it became separate from the Church of England, whose clergy are required to swear allegiance to the British monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The Episcopal Church describes itself as "Protestant, yet Catholic". The Episcopal Church claims apostolic succession, tracing its bishops back to the apostles via holy orders. The Book of Common Prayer (BCP), a collection of traditional rites, blessings, liturgies, and prayers used throughout the Anglican Communion, is central to Episcopal worship.