The Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) is an Anglican convocation affiliated to the Anglican Network in Europe that seeks to establish Anglican churches in England outside the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

. It seeks to support Anglican churches and individuals both within and outside present Church of England structures. It was created with the support of the

Global Anglican Future Conference The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) is a series of conferences of conservative Anglican bishops and leaders, the first of which was held in Jerusalem from 22 to 29 June 2008 to address the growing controversy of the divisions in the An ...

, and is part of the

Anglican realignment The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States ...

. It has been described as a "breakaway

conservative Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

movement".

Leadership

AMiE has one bishop,

Andy Lines Andrew John Lines (born 1960) is a British Anglican bishop. Since June 2017, he has been the Missionary Bishop to Europe of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), a province outside the Anglican Communion. In 2020, he became the first pres ...

: he was consecrated on 30 June 2017 as the Missionary Bishop to Europe of the

Anglican Church in North America The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cuba ...

(ACNA), a province outside the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

, but recognized by

GAFCON The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (branded as GAFCON or Gafcon) is a global network of conservative Anglicanism, Anglican churches that formed in 2008 in response to an ongoing theological crisis in the worldwide Anglican Communion. ...

and the

Global South The concept of Global North and Global South (or North–South divide in a global context) is used to describe a grouping of countries along socio-economic and political characteristics. The Global South is a term often used to identify region ...

provinces. Lines' role is to provide oversight to Anglican churches in Europe that exist outside of current Anglican structures, which includes AMiE. Lines is also director of

Crosslinks Crosslinks is an evangelical Anglican missionary society, drawing its support mainly from parishes in the Church of England and Church of Ireland. It was known as the Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society (BCMS) until 1992. The BCMS was created as ...

, an Anglican missionary agency which financially supports several independent Anglican churches in England. In 2015 the Right Revd John Ellison, a retired missionary, was under investigation by the Diocese of Salisbury after it emerged he was acting as an overseer for Christ Church Salisbury, an AMiE congregation. Ellison is currently chair of the AMiE panel of bishops.

History

AMiE was formed under the auspices of the

(GAFCON) in 2011. GAFCON gave their full support at their second meeting in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

, in October 2013. Initially its congregations were church plants that had been ejected from the Church of England for various reasons. More recently, evangelical Anglican churches have begun to plant churches under the AMiE banner. The movement has received the support of the Archbishop of Nigeria,

Nicholas Okoh Nicholas Dikeriehi Orogodo Okoh (born 10 November 1952, at Owa-Alero in the Delta State) is the former archbishop of Abuja Province and Primate (bishop), primate of the Church of Nigeria in the Anglican Communion. He retired on 25 March 2020. He ...

. In 2016 AMiE set out its vision to plant 25 churches by 2025 and 250 churches by 2050. Bishop Lines ordained the first nine men as deacons and priests on 7 December 2017, at East London Tabernacle, a Baptist church in east London. Previously, clergymen associated with AMiE had come from the Church of England, or been ordained by Anglican bishops overseas. Eight men were ordained as deacons and one as a priest, all working for AMiE churches. For example, Robert Tearle, 24, was to serve as deacon at Trinity Church Scarborough, a 2017 church plant. On 14 December 2020, AMIE became a proto-diocese (convocation) affiliated to the newly created Anglican Network in Europe; the network's other convocation is the Anglican Convocation in Europe, which has six churches in Scotland, Portugal, Cornwall and Surrey.

Theological position

AMiE takes a conservative stance on human sexuality, opposing

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

and

women's ordination The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominations in which "ordin ...

. Members of the executive of AMiE are required to hold

complementarian Complementarianism is a theological view in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, that men and women have different but ''complementary'' roles and responsibilities in marriage, family life, and religious leadership. The word "complementary" and i ...

views. AMiE leaders have made accusations that there is false teaching in Church of England leadership. Lee McMunn, the mission director for AMiE, has stated that, while many "faithful Anglicans" remain within the Church of England, others find their route to ordination "blocked by

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

clergy who do not believe orthodox Anglican teachings". AMiE's stated intent is not to threaten Anglicans within current structures, but to provide support for those already outside the structures.

Churches

The society currently has 21 churches under its auspices and the oversight of Lines. This is an increase from 6 churches in September 2016. AMiE is also aiming to plant a new church in Ramsgate in 2021.https://www.anglicanmissioninengland.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Redeemer-Church-Thanet.pdf

Former AMiE churches

The following churches disaffiliated from AMiE in 2020-21.

References

{{reflist

External links

Anglican Mission in England Official Website
Religious organisations based in England Christianity in England Evangelical Anglicanism Anglicanism in the United Kingdom Anglican realignment dioceses Reformed denominations in the United Kingdom Anglican organizations established in the 21st century Evangelicalism in the United Kingdom Evangelical denominations in Europe