Provinces have existed in The Episcopal Church (TEC) since 1913. There now are a total of 13 provinces across the U.S., as well as parts of Latin America, Asia, and Europe. Initially, provinces were funded from the main budget of TEC, settled at its triennial General Convention. Starting in the early 2000s, however, provincial funds have been provided from the dioceses within their province.

Some of the work of God’s kingdom that Province III has been involved in have included:

• an Opioid Response Task Force, looking at how we can serve as the hands of feet of God to lessen the impact of the opioid crisis; this led the creation of Camp Spirit Song, a week-long summer camp for children who have been affected by the crisis;
• a youth racial reconciliation pilgrimage for high school students that started at the National African-American museum and ended in Philadelphia at the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, led by the Reverend Absalom Jones the first Episcopal priest of African American descent; and diocesan pilgrmages in following years;
• the “PYE: Provincial Youth Event”, held 2 of every 3 years (on off years from “EYE: the Episcopal Youth Event”), which are led by our high school leaders;
• racial reconciliation work, including Sacred Ground groups to learn about the history of race in America, and an online book discussion of Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist, for which the author joined us on our last gathering;
• the P3/Forma gathering, a hybrid event held the last two years, where participants meet in-person for a morning of retreat content with Province III, then join the online Forma conference in the afternoon; and
• we support the College of Congregational Development in the Diocese of Maryland.