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The Free Church of England was enrolled as a definite legal entity in the High Court of Chancery in 1863, "pledged to the Doctrines of the Church of England as set forth in the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion, and to the principles and practices associated with the Evangelical tenets of the Established Church." (Vaughan A History of the Free Church of England otherwise called the Reformed Episcopal Church).
These days, there are a quite a few 'Continuing' Anglican Churches here and in America. They are Churches whose worship and structure are Angican, but who for one reason and another are not in full communion with Canterbury. Many of them still use the Book of Common Prayer and retain an all-male clergy. The Free Church of England (FCE) is the oldest of these 'Continuing' Anglican Churches. But, while many 'Continuing' Churches are Anglo-Catholic in style and doctrine, the Free Church of England maintains the Evangelical tradition of Anglicanism.
The FCE as it is today was formed of a union of two of these bodies in the 'Continuing' Anglican tradition:-
1. The Free Church of England, which came into being in 1844, because of efforts by the establishment to suppress Evangelical clergy and change the style of worship in Evangelical parishes, and
2. the English branch of the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC), founded in America in 1873 by the Rt. Rev. Dr. George David Cummins, formerly Assistant Bishop of Kentucky in the (Anglican) Protestant Episcopal Church of America (PECUSA). Bishop Cummins wished to be able to share Word and Sacrament with other, non-Anglican Christians, something which was increasingly forbidden by the hierarchy of the Established Church both here and in America.
The FCE was founded by Evangelical clergy and laity of the Church of England, who wanted to preserve the historic, Reformation faith and practice of the Church of England and who, like Bishop Cummins, wished to be able to share with other Protestants in worship. Officially, the date 1844 is considered significant for the beginning of the denomination; however, the roots of the Free Church of England go back further than that, to the C18th and the Evangelical Revival of George Whitfield, who himself was censured both by the hierarchy for participating in a Communion service with Presbyterians and Independents, and by the Scottish Erskienite sect for not being exclusive.
The FCE was always intended to be Episcopal. Provision was made in its Prayer Book and Canons for Episcopacy. In 1876, the historic British Episcopacy was bestowed upon the fledgling FCE, when the Rev. Benjamin Price was Consecrated Bishop by the Rt. Rev. Edward Cridge, Reformed Episcopal Bishop of Canada and that part of the USA lying west of the Mississippi. Bishop Cridge, before transferring his ministry to the REC and receiving Episcopal Consecration, was formerly a Church of England clergyman and a one-time Rector of Christ Church, Stratford, London. Bishop Cridge had been consecrated by Bishop Cummins, himself a Bishop in the Anglican succession. He bestowed Episcopal orders on the FCE with the full authority and blessing of the REC Synod.
Thus, the historic British Episcopate, and all that it may mean, was conferred upon the FCE, making it a fully Episcopal Church in the Anglican tradition, as had always been intended from the beginning.
Since then, over the years, Bishops and Presbyters from our own tradition, the REC, the Moravian Church, the Methodist Church, the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion, the Church of England, the ancient Orthodox Church of the East, the Mar Thoma Church and the Malabar Independent Syrian (Orthodox) Church have participated in Free Church of England Episcopal consecrations. Thus, not even the most rigorous of High Churchmen can deny the validity of our orders.
The FCE and the REC sought to maintain the Reformation faith, tradition and practice of the Church of England. The two bodies in the UK united in 1927 and is now known as the Free Church of England, otherwise called the Reformed Episcopal Church in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The REC in North America continues as a significant and growing Church in the Anglican tradition, in the United States of America and in Canada.
Together with Christians everywhere, we believe in the Holy Trinity - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit: three Persons in One Godhead. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Incarnate Son of God, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. We believe that He was Crucified for our sake, that He died and was buried. We believe that He rose again on the third day, that He Ascended into Heaven and that through Him the Holy Spirit was made available to believers. We believe that we are made right with God by His Atoning sacrifice and that salvation is through the Grace of God, by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.
We believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God. We accept the three historic creeds of Christendom - the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed - as summaries of Christian doctrine.
As a church in the Anglican tradition, we hold to the expressions of faith found in the Book of Common Prayer and the 39 Articles of Religion.
What does "Evangelical" mean? It comes from the New Testament Greek word euangelion - Gospel, or (literally) Good News. So, to be Evangelical is to be "of the Gospel", to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed, to live according to the Gospel, and to worship according to Gospel principles. The FCE worships according to the liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer, which, being compiled by the English Reformers, is Gospel-based, God-centred and teaches nothing that is not warranted by Scripture. The Book of Common Prayer order for Holy Communion has been called the only attempt to embody in Liturgical form the great Reformation doctrines of Grace and of Justification by faith in Jesus Christ.
A liturgy is a set form of service. This kind of worship goes right back to Old Testament times; it is very ancient and honourable. The Psalms of David, for example, are a form of liturgical worship that were used in the Jerusalem Temple. Jesus gave His disciples a simple form of liturgy when He taught them the Lord's Prayer, and again when He instituted the Lord's Supper on the night He was betrayed.
Liturgical worship guarantees that all things are done 'decently and in order', as the Apostle Paul indicated they should be. It also guarantees that worship is not monopolized by the Minister, but that all Christians have their part to play in the offering of praise and thanksgiving to God.
The Liturgy of the FCE is that adopted by the C of E during the Reformation period. It is agreeable to Scripture, and compiled by Cranmer, Ridley and the English Reformers, with the help of great scholars from the continent like Bucer and Martyr.
An Episcopal Church is one wherein oversight (Greek: episcope) is exercised by Bishops. A clergyman is elected from among the Presbyters (the old Saxon word preost - 'priest' - means Presbyter, or Elder) of the Church and consecrated to the office of Bishop. In an Episcopal Church the functions of oversight, and of administering Confirmation and Ordination are vested in the Bishop alone. Currently the FCE has two Diocesan Bishops (Northern and Southern) and two Assistant Bishops. At Convocation each year, one Bishop is elected to serve as Primus. Often the same Bishop is elected Primus for several years in succession.
THE FOUR FREE CHURCH OF ENGLAND BISHOPS
R to L: Bishop John Fenwick (Northern Diocese); Bishop John McLean (Press Officer); Bishop Kenneth Powell (Bishop Primus) and Bishop Paul Hunt (Southern Diocese).
We are proud of the fact that our Bishops stand in the Historic Succession of British Bishops, in unbroken line of descent from the sees of Canterbury and York, and we recognise and adhere to Episcopacy as a very ancient and desirable form of Church polity. We also recognise that Episcopacy is not the only form of church polity and that the Church of God exists in other forms. We do insist, though, that our own Ministers (Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons) be Episcopally ordained and consecrated. Our Episcopal succession has, over the years, been reinforced by Episcopal strands from the CofE, the Moravians and various Orthodox churches.
After the New Testament pattern, our Bishops are primarily Preachers, Teachers, Pastors and Overseers of their dioceses; they are guardians and guarantors of the orthodoxy of Ministers under their oversight: they are not 'managers' or 'facilitators' to use the currently fashionable jargon.
The governance of the FCE is carried on through the Bishops in Convocation with the rest of the clergy and the elected lay delegates from each parish, so that the Episcopacy of the FCE approaches closely the most primitive pattern. A General Council, comprising the Bishops and other Officer together with elected Clergy and Laity from each diocese carries on the day-to-day business of Church government in the intervals between Convocations.
Any Christian who desires it, who has been or wishes to be baptised, and who either joins a congregation or is enrolled as a 'scattered member' if we have no parish near them. Full membership is gained by Confirmation at the hands of a Bishop, or transfer of full membership from another Church. Those who have been full, adult, members of another Church, in which Episcopal Confirmation is not the practice, may receive Confirmation if they wish, but it is not necessary for them to do so, unless they wish to hold any office within the FCE.