Working Timeline

1973

Episcopal Charismatic Fellowship founded. Approximately 300 Episcopal priests and lay leaders met in Dallas with keynote participation from Fr. Dennis Bennett and Pentecostal ecumenist David du Plessis to formally establish the ECF. Their express purpose was to prove that charismatic gifts could function faithfully inside historical Anglican liturgy, polity, and sacramental theology.

In 1973, 300 priests met in Dallas, Texas to form an informal group to encourage charismatic renewal in the Episcopal Church. They sought and received the endorsement of the House of Bishops. Calling themselves the Episcopal Charismatic Fellowship, the group soon began publishing a journal entitled Acts 29. (D. William Faupel, “Touched by the Wind: The Charismatic Movement in the Episcopal Church”)

1976

Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry opened as a “rallying point of the evangelical/charismatic renewal in the Episcopal Church.”

January 1986

Revelation, Renewal, and Revelation (3R’s) Conference held in Winter Park, Florida. “The conference brought together evangelicals, charismatics and broad-church traditional Episcopalians who shared a growing sense of alarm at the continuing moral and doctrinal slide of their Church…Alarmed by trends within the denomination, everyone saw the need for Reformation. The conference ended with the issuance of a 3R’s Statement and publication of a book, “The Gospel Conspiracy in the Episcopal Church”, written by the Rev. Charles Irish and the Rt. Rev. Michael Marshall.” (link)

1987

Episcopalians United for Revelation, Renewal, and Reformation (EURRR or EU) founded by Rt. Rev. William Frey, Bishop of Colorado and Bishop Michael Marshall. It later becomes Anglicans United. Todd Wetzel and John Rodgers are also leaders of the group.

November 1988 

Ugandan layman John Rucyahana attends church with Rev. Thad Barnum, while attending seminary in Pittsburgh. (Barnum 25-27)

September 1991 

TEC General Convention in Phoenix, AZ. TEC House of Bishops met in September 1990 and voted 78 to 74 to prohibit the ordination and consecration of practicing homosexuals. However, ten months later at the General Convention, the House of Bishops reversed its earlier decision by a vote of 93 to 85. (Ross Lindsay)

Fall 1991

Ray Sutton becomes Dean and President of the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Episcopal Church.

12-15 August 1993

“Shaping Our Future: A Grassroots Forum on Episcopal Structures” held in St. Louis. It was initiated by the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee, led by Bishop Robert Tharp, following a diocesan convention resolution examining church structure and mission. It was directed by the Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler, who was at the time the rector of the Church of the Ascension in Knoxville, Tennessee.

As Shuler recalls, “In 1990 a few young priests in the Diocese of East Tennessee asked several questions of the church that they served. “Why has TEC gotten smaller and smaller as a percentage of the country for the last seventy-five years (since 1915)? Why has the number of baptized faithful diminished every year since 1965? Why has the number of missionaries gotten smaller and smaller?” By asking those questions a national conversation was born in TEC that led to a great gathering (the Shaping Our Future Symposium) in the Summer of 1993. Three questions were posed in the invitation to that gathering: “Are we structured so as to be effective for the spread of the kingdom of God? And if not why not? And if not, what can we do about it?”

Following the event’s momentum, the sponsoring board voted in November 1993 to formally incorporate as an independent, nationwide nonprofit called Shaping Our Future, Inc., separating from the Diocese of East Tennessee. Jon Shuler stepped down from his parish rectorate to serve full-time as president of the organization, leading regional workshops and building networks of renewal-oriented dioceses, parishes, and leaders.

1993 

Jon Shuler founds the North American Missionary Society (NAMS). This was at the instigation of Alden Hathaway, the Bishop of Pittsburgh. Hathaway essentially wanted to create new orthodox Anglican parishes, whereas Shuler wanted Great Commission churches—a key difference that I think he would say persists to today within ACNA. (Shuler)

1993

Church of the Resurrection located in West Chicago and pastored by the Rev. William Beasley, leaves the Diocese of Chicago. Seven years later this church becomes a founding member of the AMiA.

1994

The Rev. Jon Shuler, a TEC priest in Knoxville, Tennessee and the General Secretary of the North American Missionary Society (NAMS) asked Chuck Murphy, the rector of All Saints Church in Pawleys Island, if he and his parish would become a partner in NAMS. (Ross Lindsay)

1995

Heresy charges brought against Bishop Walter Righter for knowingly ordaining a noncelibate gay man as deacon. Heresy trial in May 1996 results in dismissal of the case. “…the committee of bishops hearing the case concluded that the Episcopal Church’s doctrine and discipline did not prohibit the ordination of a homosexual person living in a committed relationship.” (Hansen, 33).

1995 

Ekklesia Society founded: Founded by Rev. (later ACNA bishop) Bill Atwood. Ekklesia Society connects clergy from the “Global North” and “Global South.”

1995

“Fr. Todd Wetzel devoted major resources and manpower to several conferences and the creation of a new ministry called the American Anglican Council. Separated from Episcopalians United, the Council, under the guidance of a Bishop’s Council, took the lead in legislative impact and chapter development. E.U. continued its ministries of the “United Voice,” Latimer Press for the development of Christian Ed materials for teens and adults and networking.” (link)