The Free Church Of England

Most Christians are completely unaware that for over 200 years there has existed in England, and at times in Wales, Scotland, Canada, Bermuda, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and the USA, an episcopal Church, similar in many respects to the Church of England, worshipping with a Prayer Book virtually identical to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and served by bishops, presbyters and deacons whose orders derive directly from Canterbury, and ecumenically enriched by Old Catholic, Swedish, Moravian and other successions. The Free Church of England as an independent jurisdiction within the Universal Church began in the reign of George III. In 1991 the Church sent a bishop to George Carey's Enthronement as Archbishop of Canterbury. In addition to presenting for the first time a detailed history of the Free Church of England, John Fenwick also explores the distinctive doctrinal emphases of the denomination, its Constitution, its liturgical tradition, its experience of the historic episcopate, and its many connections with other churches (including the Reformed Episcopal Church in the USA). He discusses why the Church has, so far, failed to fulfil the vision of its founders, and what the possible future of the Church might be - including a very significant expansion as many Anglicans and other Christians considering new options discover this historic, episcopal, disestablished Church with its international connections and ecumenical character.

Ecclesiology is the study of the very nature of the Church. Though he is an Anglican Bishop, John Fenwick, PhD, demonstrates for us all that ecclesiology isn t an appendix to the gospel lies at the very heart of communion with God calling us back to the Apostolic and Biblical roots of faith and practice rather than forward to modernization. Ecclesiology is not a matter of choosing sides on core issues of the day and applying church life to them but, rather, it is a matter of faithfulness to the apostolic tradition that has been handed to the Church, primarily within the Scriptures, and then living it out in the daily life of the Church. Fenwick is a master at showing us the interconnections while never losing sight of the ultimate authority of Holy Scripture. He strongly engages with the greater story of the Church Catholic: Eastern and Western. His footnotes and bibliography are a goldmine alone. Here is that literary rarity: a most scholarly work that is also a good read. "

Offers liturgical material for the journey of each individual through life. For each key element of this journey (birth, marriage, healing, death), it provides both material for key ‘public’ events and resources for ‘private’ pastoral care.