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 ...

. It was founded in 1994. 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. It holds an annual conference. The 2023 conference was held at

St Mary's Church, Castle Street, Reading St Mary's Church, Castle Street is an independent church within the Continuing Anglican movement. It is located in the town centre of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire, and is a few yards from the similarly named, but much older Minst ...

and a day conference is due to be held there in late 2024.

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'' ( ...

'') and the recently approved

ordination of women The ordination of women to Minister of religion, ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain religious groups in which ordination ...

as priests. The church assents to the unmodified Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of the Church of England (constitution section 1), and the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...

and the 1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'' for liturgy. It also follows 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 Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

, and it stands in the

conservative evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of the Christian go ...

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 symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

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

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

, in the former Long Street synagogue (built 1903). Additionally, small groups meet in a rented hall in

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

, and a community centre in

Frinton-on-Sea Frinton-on-Sea is a seaside town and (as just Frinton) a former civil parish, now in the parish of Frinton and Walton, in the Tendring district of Essex, England. In 2018 it had an estimated population of 4,837. History The place-name 'Fri ...

. 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,

– lay minister, Philip Lievesley A 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 three 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 Church service, services of worship (or parts of the service), to preach and to carry out pastoral ...

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 group who are in valid apostolic succession. This succession is transmitted from each bishop to their successors by the r ...

from Albion Knight (1924–2012), 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 (1730 – 18 January 1805) was an English clergyman who was Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England. Life Moore was the son of George Moore, a butcher, and Jane Cook. He was baptised at St. Michael's Church, Gloucester on ...

, 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 Anglican denominations established in the 20th century Anglicanism in the United Kingdom Evangelical Anglicanism Evangelicalism in the United Kingdom