Spiritual Life
Canterbury’s Faith Community

The purpose of this information is to describe our faith community and answer some of the most frequently asked questions about Canterbury’s Episcopal nature.

Since its founding, Canterbury has believed that “the ideal education takes place in a faith community engaged in a challenging and comprehensive search for truth.” Our motto, To Learn, to Love, to Serve: to Live, is reflected in all aspects of the Canterbury experience, including our faith community.

To Learn

One of the distinct qualities of an Episcopal community is that it fosters “an inquiring and discerning heart.” Our tradition is rooted in Anglicanism and, as such, is broad and seeks to balance both faith and reason in our search for truth. In chapel, classes, and throughout our day, Canterbury encourages and celebrates questions as essential components of learning and growing in faith.

The study of religion is found at every grade level for one period a week. In kindergarten through fourth grade, the students have spiritual development classes that expose the children to the concepts and themes of the Judeo-Christian tradition. In the fifth grade and beyond, the students take theology classes that build upon what they have learned in their earlier years. In these classes, the children explore the Hebrew Scriptures, Christian Scriptures, Church History, and eventually tie all that they have learned into a comprehensive whole in their eighth grade year.

To Love

Canterbury welcomes all. Through our admission efforts, we seek to be a school which is ethnically, economically, and religiously diverse. Through our educational program, we seek to use that diversity to find what we share in our common humanity as children of God.

Our community is made up of people from all faiths. We have Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians. We also have Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist members among us. The tradition of Episcopal schools is to respect and welcome all people in our common search for truth.

Canterbury sets aside a percentage of tuition income each year to be used for financial assistance. This allows families with a wide range of economic backgrounds to attend the school.

Our community and our search for truth are enhanced by the presence of many.

From the moment you walk on campus you can feel the joy that emanates from our community. Grounded in the awareness that we are not perfect as a school, as teachers, or as students, there is a joy that comes from knowing we are loved for who we are. That joy can be heard in the greeting as you pass by someone on the path, it can be seen when you look in on a class, and it can be felt as you sit on the bench and watch the children playing at recess.

Episcopal schools worship. Three times each week we gather together as a community, consider matters greater than ourselves, and offer to God the thoughts and concerns we carry in our hearts. Although there are a variety of ways to worship, the Episcopal tradition is a rich one grounded in The Book of Common Prayer and The Hymnal 1982. At Canterbury, we seek to be faithful to that tradition while also providing services of worship that speak to our school and its members. Whether through leading prayers, singing, or acting out a biblical story, students and faculty members participate in our worship. Families and friends are always welcome to join us.

To Serve

Service is a crucial part of the Canterbury educational experience. Through service to the school community, service to Greensboro and our surrounding community, and service to our nation and world, Canterbury students learn that they have a sacred responsibility to make the world a better place. Whether it is by visiting a nursing home, making decorated placemats for a soup kitchen, cleaning up our campus, or sponsoring a child at a school in Tanzania, students participate in service learning so that they develop relationships with others as they live out their faith and find that in giving they receive!

All members of the Canterbury community care for one another. In addition to the teachers and staff, Canterbury has an Episcopal priest as its chaplain. Through his efforts, Canterbury seeks to offer care, concern, and love to each and every one of our students – to raise them up if they should succeed and lift them up if they, or the world around them, should fall.

To Live

We have three required brief services a week in Phillips Chapel allowing us to begin these days as an entire community. Often, our chapels begin with a hymn and opening prayer, continue with scripture and a homily, and conclude with prayers and a hymn. Throughout the year we celebrate the seasons of the Church and also the special days of other faith traditions. There are services during the year that recognize important moments in the history of our school, moments in the history of our country, and special days in the Church year. There are four communion services a year. Canterbury has an outdoor chapel available for services and classroom activities, and on days when there is no formal chapel, each homeroom begins the day with devotion.