{"id":14,"date":"2021-11-02T12:23:12","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T12:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stmattsblm.org\/wp2\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2025-07-10T17:48:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T17:48:19","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/stmattsblm.org\/wp2\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who we are<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">Christians proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord. We are baptized into his death and resurrection. We strive to follow him in all things.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">Our faith and practice is grounded in the tradition of the Church\u2013that is, what has been handed on to us\u2013 going back to Jesus and the apostles. No, we\u2019re not Roman Catholics, though we have much in common with our friends in that tradition.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">Our spiritual \u2018DNA\u2019 comes from the Church of England, and we are part of the family of 42 churches, all over the world, in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">The Episcopal Church, established in 1789, is the American expression of Anglican Christianity. We are one of 110 dioceses that mutually support one another in a common doctrine, discipline, and worship.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">We welcome you to <a href=\"https:\/\/stmattsblm.org\/wp2\/come\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"49\">visit<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/stmattsblm.org\/wp2\/experience\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"60\">engage<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/stmattsblm.org\/wp2\/grow\/\" data-type=\"page\">belong<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Our Diocese<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">We are part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/episcopalspringfield.org\/\">Episcopal Diocese of Springfield<\/a>, IL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/episcopalspringfield.org\/\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"451\" height=\"631\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stmattsblm.org\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dio-Sheild.png?fit=451%2C631&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-744\" style=\"width:195px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stmattsblm.org\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dio-Sheild.png?w=451&amp;ssl=1 451w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stmattsblm.org\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dio-Sheild.png?resize=214%2C300&amp;ssl=1 214w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 451px) 100vw, 451px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Our Location<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/place\/1920+E+Oakland+Ave,+Bloomington,+IL+61701\/@40.4745766,-88.9687264,17z\/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x880b7024677efb5d:0x5d32bdbb062793a2!8m2!3d40.4745766!4d-88.9665377\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Map &amp; Direction<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/place\/1920+E+Oakland+Ave,+Bloomington,+IL+61701\/@40.4745766,-88.9687264,17z\/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x880b7024677efb5d:0x5d32bdbb062793a2!8m2!3d40.4745766!4d-88.9665377\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"950\" height=\"1267\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stmattsblm.org\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_0497-scaled.jpg?resize=950%2C1267&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-584\" style=\"width:196px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stmattsblm.org\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_0497-scaled.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stmattsblm.org\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_0497-scaled.jpg?resize=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1 225w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stmattsblm.org\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_0497-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Who we are We welcome you to visit, engage, and belong. Our Diocese We are part of the Episcopal Diocese of Springfield, IL. Our Location Map &amp; Direction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":320,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inspiro_hide_title":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>About Us - St Matthew&#039;s Episcopal Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/stmattsblm.org\/wp2\/about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About Us - St Matthew&#039;s Episcopal Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Who we are We welcome you to visit, engage, and belong. 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