They are elected for life by a majority vote of the General Conference which meets every four years. This definition reflects the practice of the early church, in which deacons were ordained "not to the priesthood but to the servanthood [diakonia, "ministry"] of the bishop" (Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition). In the Episcopal Church a deacon exercises "a special ministry of servanthood" directly under the deacon's bishop, serving all people and especially those in need (BCP, p. 543).

what does the episcopal church or the anglican church think about homosexuality in general? … because according to some people who are gay, not at all the episcopalians are open minded to the homosexuality even the church accepts women as priests, and also they ordained a lesbian and a gay as bishops.. is that the reason the episcopal church is breaking down along the anglicanism? The Church of England is apostolic and traces its hierarchy back to the apostles technically the first "bishops" in theory. The Bishops are the Chief Officers of the Connectional Organization. An episcopal polity is a hierarchical form of church governance ("ecclesiastical polity") in which the chief local authorities are called bishops. The 47th meeting of the General Secretaries of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe took place from 1 to 4 July in Birmingham.

model of polity and a permanent embracing of the catholic, hierarchical polity within the Church of England and, by extension, for the worldwide Anglican Communion, including The Episcopal Church. (The word "bishop" derives, via the British Latin and Vulgar Latin term *ebiscopus/*biscopus, from the Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος epískopos meaning "overseer".) Assisting clergy at a cathedral have the title "Canon." At a cathedral, the dean is the member of the clergy in charge, although the cathedral is the official headquarters of the bishop. The Hierarchical and Charismatic Dimensions in the Church St. Mary's College Oscott, Birmingham . Each local church is a part of the larger connection.

View CNN's Fast Facts on the Episcopal Church and learn more about the church that has been a self-governing autonomous body since 1785. American Episopcal Church Polity "The basic unit of governance in the Episcopal Church is the diocese. The ordained leader of the diocese is a bishop. The Catholic Church formed a hierarchy in the New Testament when the Bishops (under their first Vicar, St. Peter - Matthew 16:17-19) ordained priests and deacons to help. The African Methodist Episcopal Church is a connectional organization.