Tony Palmer, born Anthony Joseph Palmer, (4 February 1966 – 20 July 2014) was a British-born

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n theologian, missiologist, missionary and author. He served as a bishop within the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches, and held informal ecumenical dialogue with the Catholic Church through

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

until his death.

Biography

Palmer was born in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and moved to South Africa when he was 10 years old. He and his wife maintained a website, called the Ark Community, which is described as "an internet-based, Inter-denominational Christian Convergent Community, drawing our spirituality from the 'Early Church' (33–600 AD), in particular,

Celtic Christian Celtic Christianity is a form of Christianity that was common, or held to be common, across the Celtic-speaking world during the Early Middle Ages. The term Celtic Church is deprecated by many historians as it implies a unified and identifiab ...

spirituality." On the Ark Community website he was known as "Father Tony Palmer" instead of using the style ''

The Right Reverend The Right Reverend (abbreviated as The Rt Revd or The Rt Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian ministers and members of clergy. It is a variant of the more common st ...

'' or the title "bishop". Through this religious community, Palmer served as a bishop of the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches. He was married to Emilia Palmer. He was a father and also a godfather. In January 2014, he was sent by Pope Francis to a charismatic conference hosted by televangelist

Kenneth Copeland Kenneth Max Copeland (born December 6, 1936) is an American televangelist associated with the charismatic movement. He is the founder of Eagle Mountain International Church Inc. (EMIC), which is based in Tarrant County, Texas. Copeland has also ...

. Bishops Palmer and Emilio Alvarez participated in "The Miracle of Unity". On 20 July 2014, after injuries sustained in a motorbike accident, Palmer died.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Tony 1966 births 2014 deaths Road incident deaths in the United Kingdom South African theologians 20th-century British people Convergence Movement Charismatics pastors