The Episcopal Church
The Episcopal Church is a part of a worldwide community of churches known as the Anglican Communion which grew out of the Church of England. At the time of the Reformation, the Church of England adopted some of the reform ideas circulating on the Continent while at the same time maintaining the Apostolic Succession (the historic, unbroken line of bishops going back to the Apostles).
The Church of England spread as the British Empire grew into a global empire. The Anglican Church arrived in the American colonies with the first settlement in Jamestown. After the Revolution, the Protestant Episcopal Church was formed by many of the same Founding Fathers who had recently formed our new nation. Then, by sending Samuel Seabury, William White, and Samuel Provoost back to Scotland and England to be consecrated bishops, the Apostolic Succession was maintained, and in 1789, the Book of Common Prayer of the Protestant Episcopal Church was adopted.
Today, we are in communion with the Church of England but do not come under its authority.
Diocese of the Rio Grande
St. John's Episcopal Church is part of the Diocese of the Rio Grande. The Diocese encompasses 154,000 square miles of the State of New Mexico and Far West Texas from the Pecos River to the border with Mexico along the Rio Grande.