Reformed Episcopal Church

Reformed Episcopal Church

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Reformed Episcopal Church

The Reformed Episcopal Church is an Anglican church in the United States and Canada.

Prompted by what they saw as the loss of Protestant and evangelical witness in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, the Reformed Episcopal Church, a Christian denomination, was founded on December 2, 1873 by the Rt. Rev. Bishop George David Cummins D.D. and other former Protestant Episcopal clergy and laity. Bishop Cummins had previously served as Assistant Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky.

The REC utilizes its own Book of Common Prayer based upon the Church of England's 1662 Book of Common Prayer, along with elements of the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. The doctrinal standards of the Reformed Episcopal Church are the Creeds, the decisions of the Ecumenical Councils of the undivided Church and the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (Anglican). The REC Declaration of Principles approved by the Church at its founding were intended to be consistent with a literal and plain understanding of the Articles of Religion:

Declaration of Principles
The Reformed Episcopal Church today
Dioceses
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Declaration of Principles

G.D. Cummins, DD, founding bishop.

1. The Reformed Episcopal Church, holding "the faith once delivered unto the saints", declares its belief in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the Word of God, as the sole rule of Faith and Practice; in the Creed "commonly called the Apostles' Creed;" in the Divine institution of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper; and in the doctrines of grace substantially as they are set forth in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion.

2. This Church recognizes and adheres to Episcopacy, not as of Divine right, but as a very ancient and desirable form of Church polity.

3. This Church, retaining a liturgy which shall not be imperative or repressive of freedom in prayer, accepts The Book of Common Prayer, as it was revised, proposed, and recommended for use by the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, A.D. 1785, reserving full liberty to alter, abridge, enlarge, and amend the same, as may seem most conducive to the edification of the people, "provided that the substance of the faith be kept entire."

4. This Church condemns and rejects the following erroneous and strange doctrines as contrary to God's Word: First, that the Church of Christ exists only in one order or form of ecclesiastical polity; Second, that Christian Ministers are "priests" in another sense than that in which all believers are a "royal priesthood"; Third, that the Lord's Table is an altar on which the oblation of the Body and Blood of Christ is offered anew to the Father; Fourth, that the Presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper is a presence in the elements of Bread and Wine; Fifth, that regeneration is inseparably connected with Baptism.

The Reformed Episcopal Church today

At present, the Reformed Episcopal Church has more than 135 parishes in the United States and Canada which are in six dioceses. Parishes are also located in Germany, Brazil, India, Cuba and Liberia. The church operates three seminaries. Membership currently numbers approximately 13,000. After the conclusion of the American Civil War, the REC started congregations for African-Americans in South Carolina who were disaffected by the Protestant Episcopal Church.

Since its founding in 1873, the REC has maintained Historic Orders of ministry. The transfer of Clergy credentials from other denominations involves a process of application, examination, reception, and in some cases regularization of orders. Transfers are subject to the approval of the Diocesan Bishop and the Standing Committee. Depending on each individual's situation, other requirements may be necessary.

The Church does not ordain women as bishops, presbyters, or deacons. In 2002, the denomination approved a canon that provides for the setting apart (not ordination) of qualified women as deaconesses. They, however, are not considered to be female deacons as in some other Protestant churches. The REC invites all Christians who have been baptized in the name of the Trinity to partake of Holy Communion in its churches.

The Church is in full communion with the Free Church of England and also the Anglican Province of America. It is in Common Cause Partnership with the Anglican Communion Network, and on November 12, 2005 it and the Anglican Province of America signed a Covenant of Concordat with the Church of Nigeria. The Most Rev. Leonard W. Riches is the current Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church. Although the Reformed Episcopal Church describes itself as Anglican, and uses traditional Anglican liturgies, it is not recognized as being part of the Anglican Communion by the Archbishop of Canterbury and as such has no involvement in that Communion; its bishops are not invited to participate in the Lambeth Conferences and it is not in communion with any of the ecclesiastical provinces of the Anglican Communion.