Our flagship publication, The Living Church magazine is published in print twelve times a year and has been in continuous publications since 1878. Every issue includes news and commentary on the issues of the day, reflections on ministry and theology, obituaries and ministry transitions, and commentary on the Sunday lectionary.

Masthead | Our current staff

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Our website publishes all the contents of the print magazine along with daily online-only content. Click here today to subscribe and here to join our email list for Daily Devotions, the daily Covenant articles (TLC’s online journal), the Weekly from TLC, and Books and Culture, monthly reviews from TLC.

The complete Archives of The Living Church is now available and is searchable, an essential resource for those interested in the history of The Episcopal Church.

Our History

The first issue of The Living Church magazine was published on November 2, 1878 by two priests, Samuel Harris of Chicago and John Fulton of Milwaukee. They hoped to awaken and renew their beloved Episcopal Church by encouraging faithful teaching, preaching, and social outreach, and by inspiring the highest quality of music, art, and architecture. From the beginning, The Living Church addressed itself to an audience broader than any single American denomination.

The small weekly newspaper grew rapidly, nourished by the Anglo-Catholic and ecumenical movements at the time of their greatest flourishing. From 1900-1952, under the editorship of F.C. and Clifford Morehouse, The Living Church earned a nationwide reputation for journalistic integrity and became the major venue for internal discussions of the Episcopal Church’s mission and identity. At the same time, TLC served as a publication of record for ordinations, appointments, obituaries, and official pronouncements.

The Morehouses also pioneered a tradition of distinguished service by our editors in the Episcopal Church’s institutional life, focusing especially on ecumenical relations. F.C. represented the Episcopal Church as a lay delegate to the first Faith and Order meeting at Lausanne in 1927, and Clifford served on the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church and as President of the House of Deputies of General Convention. The same model was followed by later editors. Peter Day became the Episcopal Church’s ecumenical officer. H. Boone Porter, a scholar of liturgy and pastoral theology, helped draft the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. Christopher Wells (2009-22) expanded the ministry of TLC is a myriad of ways and is now the Director of Unity, Faith, and Order at the Anglican Communion Office in London. The current Executive Director and Publisher, Matthew S.C. Olver, a priest, liturgical scholar, and seminary professor, has long served the Episcopal Church, including on the Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation in the U.S. (ARCUSA), the Task Force on Liturgical and Prayer Book Revision, and as a deputy to General Convention.

Contact

Submissions, Reviews, and Reprints

Submissions
Article ideas and submissions may be made via email to the Editor in Chief. Due to the high volume of submissions, we may not be able to provide feedback on submissions we do not accept.

Reviews
To pitch books for TLC to review, or to offer a review for TLC to publish, email the Associate Editor for Books Reviews.

Reprint Permissions
If you wish permission to republish an article that has appeared in The Living Church, or to reprint multiple copies of an article, please send an e-mail to tlc@livingchurch.org with the following information:

• The title, author, and date of the original article
• Where the article will be reprinted, or the number of copies you intend to reproduce
• Your name, postal address, telephone and e-mail address