The Church of England (Continuing) is part of the

Continuing Anglican Movement The Continuing Anglican Movement, also known as the Anglican Continuum, encompasses a number of Christian churches, principally based in North America, that have an Anglican identity and tradition but are not part of the Anglican Communion. The ...

. Although the church was widely discussed in

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

circles at the time of its founding, it has not achieved significant growth since that time. In 2019 the church held a celebration of 25 years since its foundation. It holds an annual conference at

Benson, Oxfordshire Benson is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England. The 2011 Census gave the parish population as 4,754. It lies about a mile and a half (2.4 km) north of Wallingford at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, where a chalk stream, Ewe ...

. Since 2008 the church has regularly exhibited at the Christian Resources Exhibition at Esher, Surrey and elsewhere in England. It publishes a magazine called ''The Journal'' as well as other literature and books.

Origins and doctrine

The church was founded on 10 February 1994 at a meeting chaired by David Samuel at St Mary's, Castle Street, Reading, as a reaction against the use of contemporary-language liturgies (particularly the 1980 ''

Alternative Service Book The ''Alternative Service Book 1980'' (''ASB'') was the first complete prayer book produced by the Church of England since 1662. Its name derives from the fact that it was proposed not as a replacement for the 1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'' (B ...

'') and the recently approved

ordination of women 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 "ordina ...

as priests. The church assents to the unmodified

Thirty-Nine Articles The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (commonly abbreviated as the Thirty-nine Articles or the XXXIX Articles) are the historically defining statements of doctrines and practices of the Church of England with respect to the controversies of the ...

of Religion of the Church of England (constitution section 1), the 1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'' for liturgy, and to the historic three-fold ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons, ordained according to the Ordinal of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Its doctrine is

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

, and it stands in the

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 ...

protestant tradition. The church maintains a conservative view on Christian leadership, and women are not permitted to teach at meetings or to exercise authority in the church (constitution section 3).

Congregations

The Church of England (Continuing) has one church building, St Mary's in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, which was the church of its founding member, David Samuel. A second group meets in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

, in the former Long Street synagogue (built 1903). Additionally, small groups meet in a retirement housing complex in

Colliers Wood Colliers Wood is an area in south west London, England, in the London Borough of Merton. It is a mostly residential area, but has a busy high street around Colliers Wood tube station on London Underground's Northern line. The high street is part ...

, and a community centre in Frinton-on-Sea. These are the four congregations listed by the church as of 2020: *St Mary's Church, Castle Street, Reading, Berkshire – minister, Edward J. Malcol

*St John's Church,

, London, – minister, Peter Ratclif

*St Silas' Church,

*Holy Trinity Church, Frinton-on-Sea – lay minister, Philip Lievesley A previous fifth congregation, at Nuffield, Oxfordshire, Nuffield, has since closed.

Leadership

The church has had three presiding bishops since its foundation: * David Samuel, 1995–2001 * Edward Malcolm, 2001–2013 * Edward J Malcolm, 2013–present The first bishop of the church was its founder, David Samuel, who is now retired. He consecrated as his successor Edward Malcolm, minister of St Silas' Wolverhampton, who died on 17 November 2013. The current presiding bishop is Edward J. Malcolm, minister of St Mary's, Reading, who was also consecrated by David Samuel, one week after the death of Edward Malcolm in 2013. The bishop, Edward J Malcolm, is currently one of only two active clergymen in the church, although there are several

lay reader In Anglicanism, a licensed lay minister (LLM) or lay reader (in some jurisdictions simply reader) is a person authorised by a bishop to lead certain services of worship (or parts of the service), to preach and to carry out pastoral and teaching f ...

s and preachers. The church establishes its

episcopal succession The historic or historical episcopate comprises all episcopates, that is, it is the collective body of all the bishops of a church who are in valid apostolic succession. This succession is transmitted from each bishop to their successors by the r ...

from the late Albion Knight, Archbishop of the United Episcopal Church of North America, who consecrated David Samuel on 11 June 1995. The closest link of episcopal succession with the Church of England is

John Moore (Archbishop of Canterbury) John Moore (26 April 1730 – 18 January 1805) was Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England. Life Moore was the son of Thomas Moore, a butcher, and his wife Elizabeth. He was born in Gloucester and was baptised at St. Michael's Churc ...

, who consecrated William White of Pennsylvania in 1787, and from whom Knight claimed his succession.

References

External links

Official website
{{Christianity in the United Kingdom Christian organizations established in 1994 Continuing Anglican denominations Christian denominations established in the 20th century Anglicanism in the United Kingdom Evangelical Anglicanism Evangelicalism in the United Kingdom