Grounds For Communion With The Church Of England

Three churches have recently produced liturgies for 'extended communion'. This is the distribution of previously consecrated elements at a public service by lay people or a deacon in the absence of a priest. This development began in the Roman Catholic Church with the Vatican 'Directory on Sunday Worship in the absence of a priest' in 1988. The Methodist Church produced a service of Extended Communion in 1999, and the Church of England authorized 'Public Worship with Communion by Extension' in 2001. In this book Phillip Tovey examines these churches to discover the reasons for the production of these services and their theological rationale. An in-depth examination of case studies draws conclusions highly relevant to the wider church.

In this work, Thomas Tregenna Biddulph gives the reasons for his Communion with the Church of England. Biddulph (1763–1838) was an English cleric, a leading evangelical in the Bristol area. He gave nine distinct and interesting answers to the most asked question of why he was a member of the established Church. Excerpt from the book "I maintain communion with the Church of England, not MERELY because my parents and forefathers were members of her community. The connexion which my parents and forefathers held with the Church of England I consider to be a sufficient reason why I should continue in communion with her, if there be nothing contrary to the law of God in such a connexion."