Episcopal Missionary Church

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 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.

Episcopal Missionary Church
OrientationContinuing Anglican
PolityEpiscopal
Presiding bishopWilliam Millsaps
AssociationsFederation of Anglican Churches in the Americas
RegionUnited States, South Africa
FounderA. Donald Davies
Origin1992
Separated fromThe Episcopal Church
SeparationsChristian Episcopal Church
CongregationsFewer than 25

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 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.

The Episcopal Missionary Church endorsed a concordart of communion in January 2020, which was signed by Archbishop Foley Beach and EMC Presiding Bishop William Millsaps on 14 September 2020.[1][2]

Leadership

The current Presiding Bishop of the EMC and Bishop of the Diocese of the South is William Millsaps. Bishops of the Episcopal Missionary Church are: William Millsaps, Presiding Bishop, and a former chaplain of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee; Vince Mclaughlin, Bishop of the Diocese of the East; Jeffrey Anderson, Bishop for the Armed Forces; Doug Pieper; Wilbert Bailey; G. Wayne Craig (Ret.); 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 Albert Shange.

References
  1. College of Bishops Communiqué, ACNA Official Website, January 2020
  2. ACNA and Episcopal Missionary Church enter formal concordat, Virtue Online, 11 September 2020
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