Episcopal Missionary Church
 Defend the Historic Faith | |
| Classification | Continuing Anglican |
| Orientation | Anglo-Catholic to Evangelical |
| Polity | Episcopal, (with Apostolic Succession) |
| Associations | Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas |
| Region | United States, South Africa |
| Founder | A. Donald Davies |
| Origin | 1992 |
| Separated from | Episcopal Church in the United States of America |
| Separations | Christian Episcopal Church |
| Congregations | approximately 30 |
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The Episcopal Missionary Church (EMC) is a Continuing Anglican church body in the United States and a member of the Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas. Its founding in the early 1990s can be traced to the protests of members of The Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA) who were concerned that their church had become massively influenced by secular humanism (i.e., liberal theologies). At first, these clergy and laymen sought to change the direction of their church by working from within it, to which end they formed a voluntary association, the Episcopal Synod of America.
When they later concluded that this approach would not succeed, a new missionary diocese was formed by them, still attempting to remain within ECUSA. In 1992, however, the missionary diocese withdrew from ECUSA and formed a separate church, the Episcopal Missionary Church. The Rt. Rev. A. Donald Davies, retired ECUSA Bishop of Dallas and Fort Worth, was named the first Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Missionary Church.
The Episcopal Missionary Church affirms the Holy Scriptures as containing all things necessary to salvation and as the ultimate rule and standard of faith. The Church acknowledges the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds and the necessity of the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion. It uses the 1928 American edition of the Book of Common Prayer or the Anglican Missal based upon it, and emphasizes the preservation of Apostolic Succession. The Episcopal Missionary Church embraces a variety of liturgical styles from "Low-Church" to "High-Church Evangelical" to Anglo-Catholic.
The name Episcopal "Missionary" Church was selected as part of the Church's desire to provide a home for all Episcopalians and other Christians who feel that they have been forced from their churches by the growth of liberalism within them. At present, the Episcopal Missionary Church has approximately thirty small parishes scattered throughout the United States.
Leadership
The current Presiding Bishop of the EMC and Bishop of the Chesapeake & Northeast is the Rt. Rev'd Council Nedd II. The other bishops of the Episcopal Missionary Church are: the Rt. Rev'd William Millsaps, Presiding Bishop Emeritus, and a former chaplain of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee; the Rt. Rev'd Ron Kuykendall, Missionary Bishop and Suffragan for the Diocese of the South; the Rt. Rev'd Doug Pieper; the Rt. Rev'd Wilbert Bailey; the Rt. Rev'd G. Wayne Craig (Ret.); and the Rt. Rev'd Edward P. Whately (Ret.). The EMC is exploring a relationship with an independent body, The Episcopal Missionary Church of South Africa, whose Presiding Bishop is the Rt. Rev'd Albert Shange.
External links
- Episcopal Missionary Church
- Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas
- Holy Cross Anglican Church, Franklin TN