The Episcopal Missionary Church (EMC) is a

Continuing Anglican 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. Thes ...

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 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. 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 The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

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 The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...

, 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. The Episcopal Missionary Church endorsed a concordart of communion in January 2020, which was signed by Archbishop

Foley Beach Foley Thomas Beach (born October 31, 1958) is an American bishop. He is the second primate and archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, a church associated with the Anglican realignment movement. Foley was elected as the church's prim ...

and EMC Presiding Bishop

William Millsaps William Wesley Millsaps (born December 19, 1939) is a Continuing Anglican bishop. He is bishop of the Episcopal Missionary Church. He is the rector of Christ Church in Monteagle, Tennessee, and Presiding bishop of the Episcopal Missionary Chur ...

on 14 September 2020.College of Bishops Communiqué, ACNA Official Website, January 2020
/ref>ACNA and Episcopal Missionary Church enter formal concordat, Virtue Online, 11 September 2020
/ref>

Leadership

The current Presiding Bishop of the EMC and Bishop of the Diocese of the East is Vince McLaughlin. Bishops of the Episcopal Missionary Church are:

, Bishop of the Diocese of the South, and a former chaplain of the

University of the South The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee (), is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is owned by 28 southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and its School of Theology is an official seminary of ...

Sewanee, Tennessee Sewanee () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,535 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Tullahoma, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area. Sewanee is best known as the home of ...

; Vince McLaughlin, Presiding Bishop and Bishop of the Diocese of the East; Michael Pease; Peter N'gnanga (Missionary Bishop, Kenya); Frank Gentsch; Arthur Rushlow; Ibiso Igani; Wilbert Bailey; Doug Pieper, (Ret.); and Edward P. Whately (Ret.) Other members of the leadership staff of the EMC include The Rev. Canon Charles Moncrief, Federal Chaplain Endorser; The Rev. Canon Dr. Brian Turner, Chancellor; and The Rev. Mary Marshall, Clerk. The EMC is exploring a relationship with an independent body, The Episcopal Missionary Church of South Africa, whose Presiding Bishop is Albert Shange.

References

External links

Episcopal Missionary ChurchFederation of Anglican Churches in the AmericasHoly Cross Anglican Church, Franklin TN
{{Continuing Anglican Christian organizations established in 1992 Continuing Anglican denominations Anglican denominations in North America Anglicanism in the United States