Mormonism → Episcopalianism: One Year at St Cuthbert

Story

Sunday morning.

My family and I walk out of the sanctuary following a church service of singing praise, reading scripture, listening to a sermon, and taking communion. Now, it’s time for “pizza and play” –a social event for families with kids. The kids eat and play while the adults eat and talk.

“Where were you before St Cuthbert’s?” is a common question I’m asked. I share that I grew up “Mormon”, and only recently started exploring other faiths. Interestingly, I learn that many members of the Episcopal Church have switched denominations at some point in their life. “I grew up Catholic” says one person, “Baptist” says another. It’s nice to know I’m not alone in my faith transition.

However, in my church explorations (see my log book), I’ve learned that a typical Catholic or Protestant has a lot more in common with a typical Episcopalian compared to a typical “Mormon”. In most of Christianity, going from one denomination to another is no big deal. But going from/to Mormonism is a major life adjustment –mostly due to its high-demand/high-control nature.

That’s why I’m caught off guard when someone asks me this simple question:

“What makes the Episcopal Church different than the Mormon Church?”

I want to give a clean list of differences, but I struggle to organize my thoughts in the moment. “Everything!” I blurt out. Then I try to explain some of the major differences but, honestly, I do a bad job.

At the time, we had only been attending St Cuthbert’s for a few weeks –everything was still very new to me. I didn’t have a full picture in my head around Episcopalianism. I needed more time and experience.

Now, one year later, I think I have a better answer to my friend’s question.

Introduction

In the next few sections, I’ll point out similarities and differences of the LDS Church and the Episcopal Church (specifically St Cuthbert, where I’ve been attending with my family for the past 12 months). It’s not a comprehensive list, just my own perspective and thoughts.

I should point out that there are significant theological differences between these churches that I could spend a lot of time unpacking –but I’ll save that for another post. Here, I want to focus on the practical, everyday similarities and differences in how each church actually functions.

Similarities

The Episcopal Church and the LDS Church have many similarities, including:

• Good, humble people doing their best.
• Christ-like focus on serving the poor and the needy.
• Beautiful music, mostly performed by volunteers.
• Teachings of Jesus Christ and the intention to follow Him.
• Liberals and conservatives worshiping together.
  • Yes, the LDS Church leans more conservative and the Episcopal Church leans more liberal, but members in both churches include a wide range of political opinions.
• Communion (the sacrament) every week.
  • During my church explorations, I was surprised to learn that many Protestant churches (especially Evangelicals) don’t do communion every week. Instead, they do it monthly or even quarterly –which is fine, just not my personal preference (communion is my favorite part of Sunday service every week).
    • Once, I attended an Evangelical service including communion (first Sunday of every month) and I was disappointed at their cavalier attitude toward this holy practice. When it was time to partake, the pastor instructed everyone to reach under their chair to find and consume the wafer and wine from a pre-packaged plastic container on the floor. This felt a little disrespectful to me.
• Lots of ritual.
  • Yes, the rituals are very different, but the amount of ritual practices is similar.
  • The main difference is that Mormons do rituals in Temples, Episcopalians do rituals in regular Sunday service.
• Sunday School and youth groups
  • Instead of EFY/FSY and youth conference, Episcopal youth do mission trips centered around humanitarian service and interfaith worship.

Minor Differences

• Lay member talks most Sundays → Pastor sermons most Sundays.
  • In the LDS Church, the members take turns giving talks during sacrament meeting. Additionally, the first Sunday of each month is a special Sunday service called “fast and testimony meeting”, where anyone can come up to the mic and bear a Christ-centered testimony in front of the congregation.
    • This is one of the things I miss the most about LDS Church services: the chance to hear from everyone, and the opportunity for yourself to prepare and share a message to the congregation.
  • In the Episcopal Church, the Pastor/Rector gives the sermon most Sundays. Rarely, there is a talk/sermon given by someone other than the Rector. However, scripture readings and group prayers are done by regular members of the congregation.
• Callings → Ministries
  • In the LDS Church, the Bishop or other leaders extend to you a calling which you are supposed to accept (you are “volun-told”).
  • In the Episcopal Church, you are encouraged to join a ministry or two, but it’s a self sign-up process (volunteer).
    • Currently, Christine has volunteered to be part of the music ministry (choir), and I’m part of the Men of the Vine ministry (basically Elders Quorum).
• Strict rules → General principles
  • The LDS Church includes very specific rules for defining “worthiness” among members. For example, these things are not allowed:
    • Coffee, tea, alcohol, tobacco, sex outside of marriage, homosexual relationships, shopping on Sunday, dressing immodestly, not wearing your garments every day (temple underwear), not paying 10% tithing to the church, etc.
      • Note: recently, the LDS Church has shifted focus in many of these areas from specific rules to general principles (especially in the new For the Strength of Youth teachings).
  • The Episcopal Church does not have a specific list of dos and don’ts. Instead, it’s left up to the individual to discern and decide for themselves. Sin is officially defined this way in the catechism:
    • “Sin is the seeking of our own will instead of the will of God, thus distorting our relationship with God, with other people, and with all creation.” (source)
• King James Version of the Bible exclusively → Many approved Bible versions (KJV, NRSV, CEB, etc)
  • Note: this just recently changed for the LDS Church. As of Dec 2025, they encourage use of other versions of the bible too (source).
    • Still worth calling out as a difference here because my whole life in the church we were encouraged to stick to the King James Version only.
  • Episcopalians often use the NRSV which makes things a little clearer in today’s English, often swapping gendered language for more gender-inclusive wording. For example:
    • “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people” –Matt 4:19
• Baby blessings → Infant baptisms/Christening
  • The LDS Church does not allow infant baptisms —The Book of Mormon is extremely opposed to this idea (see Moroni 8:10-21). However, they do encourage a baby blessing for newborns. It’s basically a verbal prayer/blessing given by the father or a holder of the priesthood to the baby in front of the congregation. It’s a wonderful tradition welcoming the baby into the world and the church.
  • The Episcopal Church does baptisms at any age, including infants. It’s viewed as an important tradition, and the preferred way of becoming a Christian. However, baptism into the Episcopal Church is often not viewed as a saving ordinance/sacrament (unlike within the LDS or Catholic Church).
    • It’s also important to note that infants in the Episcopal Church are baptized but not confirmed. The baptism is almost meant more for the congregation, parents, and godparents to commit to raising this child as a Christian.
    • Confirmation happens only when the child becomes old enough to learn and choose for themselves (similar to the age of accountability for LDS members). They can choose to “confirm” their baptism.
• LDS traditions → Episcopal traditions
  • LDS traditions:
    • Fast Sundays
    • Patriarchal blessings
    • Seminary/Institute for youth
    • General Conference
  • Episcopal traditions:
    • Passing the Peace.
    • Scripture readings and prayers together.
    • Reciting the creeds.
    • Liturgical calendar: Advent, Lent, Holy Week, etc.

Major Differences

• Hierarchical governance → Democratic governance.
  • The LDS Church mostly operates in a top-down direction.
    • Senior leaders appoint future leaders.
    • Top leaders give talks to the entire church in a semi-annual General Conference. The talks are then used as Sunday School curriculum for the next 6 months until there is another General Conference with new talks.
    • Ward budgets, policies, Sunday School curriculum, and even the selection of approved hymns are determined by leaders at church headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah.
  • The Episcopal Church mostly operates in a bottom-up direction.
    • Leaders are elected by a democratic system of votes from clergy and lay members.
    • There is no equivalent to an LDS General Conference –at least nothing I’ve experienced so far.
    • Each Episcopal church has a tremendous amount of autonomy over its budget, policies (to some extent), Sunday School curriculum, and worship style (high church vs low church, traditional hymns vs contemporary music, etc).
• Worthiness gate keeping → Group confession
  • In the LDS Church, if you want a temple recommend, you’re required to meet 1:1 with the bishop of your ward for a worthiness interview. The bishop determines if you are worthy to enter the temple based on your answers to very specific questions –which includes topics around beliefs, health, sexual sins, tithing, etc.
  • In the Episcopal Church, there is no “worthiness interview”. Instead, the congregation recites a group confession each Sunday before communion. It’s a beautiful prayer that goes like this:
    • “Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.” –The Book of Common Prayer
    • Individual confession through the priest is available upon request (if, for example, you have more-grievous sins to work through).
• Narrow eligibility → Broader inclusion
  • Women
    • The LDS Church does not ordain women and systematically limits their representation in leadership roles compared to men.
    • The Episcopal Church, as of 1976, allows women to serve in any ordained or leadership role open to men –there are no gender requirements.
  • Black people
    • The LDS Church, in its founding days under Joseph Smith, initially accepted Black people in all aspects of worship. However, under Brigham Young and other church leaders there was a 126 year ban on Black people from being ordained to the Priesthood or performing ordinances in the temple, until the policy was lifted in 1978 (read my other blog post for more details).
    • The Episcopal Church has ordained Black clergy since the early 19th century –for more than 200 years. However, especially in the South, many congregations remained racially segregated in practice until after the Civil Rights Movement.
  • LGBTQ
    • The LDS Church prohibits same-sex marriage and teaches that same-sex sexual relationships are sinful. Church policies also limit how transgender members may use gendered facilities and participate in gender-specific programs in church settings.
    • The Episcopal Church has officially allowed LGBTQ clergy as of 2012, and has allowed same-sex marriage church-wide since 2015.
• The one-and-only true church (LDS) → Inter-denominational acceptance
  • The LDS Church teaches that there was a “Great Apostasy” after the death of Jesus and the original 12 apostles. All of God’s authority required for running the church (performing baptisms, administering the Lord’s supper, etc) was lost from the whole Earth until it was all restored through Joseph Smith in the early 1800s.
    • Today, if you are baptized in the Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, or any non-LDS church, your baptism is not accepted and you are required to be baptized separately in the LDS Church if you want to be considered a member.
  • The Episcopal Church does not claim to be the one-and-only true church of Jesus Christ. Instead, they accept other denominations and don’t require re-baptism.
    • On most Sundays, Episcopalians recite the Nicene Creed (which I have mixed feelings about) and there’s a line in there that everyone recites that goes like this: “I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.” This confused me for a while because we were attending an Anglican/Episcopal church, not a Catholic church. However, someone explained to me that the “c” in catholic was lower case, and did not mean the Catholic church, but rather all churches stemming from the Catholic church (Protestant, Evangelical, and yes, even Restorationist churches like the LDS Church) thus including all Christian churches –what a Christ-like perspective that is!
    • At St Cuthbert’s, all that is required to be a member is for you to attend regularly and give any amount of financial donation.
• LDS Tithing → Episcopal pledging
  • The LDS Church teaches that paying 10% of your income to the church is a commandment from God and is required for you to be considered worthy enough to enter the temple.
    • Members meet annually with their bishop to discuss the amount of tithing they are paying to the church, and if it’s not 10% the bishop can decide to revoke your permission to enter the temple.
    • Members have no say about how their tithing money is spent. All tithes go to church headquarters in Salt Lake City where top leaders decide how to use the money (build new temples, renovate churches, invest in a shopping mall, etc).
  • The Episcopal Church teaches that tithing is important, but the amount is up to you.
    • Every year, members are encouraged to “pledge” a certain amount of money to donate throughout the year. The members who pledge $50 are treated the same as the members who pledge 10% of their income. There is no penalty for paying less when a person is struggling financially.
    • Nearly all the money you pay (85 to 95%) stays at the local church level. The leftover (5 to 15%) goes up to the Episcopal Church organization.
    • Financial transparency is incredibly impressive at St Cuthbert’s. The leadership team regularly distributes reports to all lay members that show where every dollar is spent. Additionally, lay members have a say in future funding decisions.
• LDS Theology → Anglican theology
  • Note: there’s a lot to unpack here that I’m choosing not to do, but this is just a quick, high-level summary:
    • Godhead vs Trinity.
    • Additional scripture (BOM, D&C, Pearl of Great Price, etc) vs just the Bible.
    • Continuing revelation through a living prophet vs The three pillars of scripture, tradition, and reason.
    • Temple ordinances vs church sacraments only.
      • Proxy work for the dead vs ordinances not required for salvation.
    • Three degrees of glory vs heaven/hell.
    • Marriage (including polygamy) in heaven vs probably no marriages in heaven.
    • Heavenly Mother as the Divine Feminine vs God as both male and female.

Conclusion

I love both of these churches. Recently, however, I prefer the Episcopal Church 🙂