Our History
Our church building was constructed around 1960 and it was very much a suburban church. As the pace of our modern lives has shifted, so has the scope and ministry of St. Michael’s.
St. Michael’s is integrated into our local community. It is a place where people come to worship, for community, for formation, and to be engaged in mission. We are one parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee, whose mission has recently been articulated by our bishop, Steven Andrew Miller: To invite others to know Jesus as Savior and Lord in the fellowship of his church, and to get to know the story of Jesus that is written [in Scripture] as God is writing his story in your life and in your heart.
Our diocese is one of many that constitute the national Episcopal Church–a diverse collection of people from all sorts of backgrounds and experiences. The challenge of the Episcopal Church is very much the challenge of being a part of the global society. How do we live with and respond to those who are different from us? St. Michael’s upholds Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, the authority of Holy Scripture as God’s Word and our rule of life, and the evangelical imperative to make Jesus known to others in word and in deed. We participate freely and humbly in our church and in the world, unafraid-because we know our Lord as he has revealed himself to us.
The Episcopal Church is a member of the World-wide Anglican Communion. To be Anglican is to be in “communion” with the historic See of Canterbury. We are a global church. The Anglican Communion is a collection of thirty-eight provinces in over one hundred sixty countries representing over eighty million Christians! So when you gather at one of our services, you are joining your voice with Christians across the world, who sing a common refrain and worship a common Lord.
Protestant or Catholic?
The Anglican Way was given birth in the days of the Reformation (AD 1500’s) when the Church of England and the Church of Rome were separated. We retained the rich liturgy and symbolism thrown out by other Protestant churches while clarifying our theology to reflect a return to more biblical roots. Hence we are a both/and church. We also retain an unbroken line of apostolic succession. That simply means that our bishops, priests, and deacons trace their ordinations directly to beginning days of the Church. We are part of what we profess to be the one holy catholic and apostolic church. Within Anglicanism is the full spectrum of people whose practice of Christianity is on one side “Anglo-Catholic” all the way over to Evangelical and Charismatic on the other. St. Michael's is a true mix of having in its congregation people from these categories and everything in between! Both a common commitment to following Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and worship from the Book of Common Prayer, bind us together in harmony.