Anglicans find a home in Old Torrance
Four years ago, a small group of former Episcopalians - disheartened with the denomination - huddled in a Torrance living room for church services led by a Nigerian priest.
After the ordination of a gay bishop in 2003, these and other conservative members left the Episcopal Church, the U.S. arm of the historic Anglican Communion. They formed their own churches aligned with Anglican dioceses in Africa that shared their views on biblical teaching.
Now, as the organizational structure of this fledgling Anglican body in the United States takes shape, the local congregations are planting roots in local communities and hiring American priests.
This Sunday, the local Anglican church, Christ Our Savior, will hold services in its first permanent home in Old Torrance. The Rev. Dale Smith, a former Episcopal priest from South Pasadena, has led the church for more than a year.
"It's been a difficult time for more than 50 years during this gradual split," Smith said.
After 2003, he said, "We knew there were effectively two churches, one that believed the historic faith and one that didn't."
A spokesman for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles agreed that doctrinal disagreements have stretched back decades, but said the denomination has not departed from its core values and tradition. Rather, the church "has come to understand more fully the meaning of the baptismal covenant that calls us to respect the dignity of every human being," said Robert Williams, the church's canon for communications.
The issue of gay ordination - and biblical teaching on homosexuality in general - has likewise roiled other Protestant denominations. In July, after years of debate, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) lifted barriers to allowing gay clergy; a year ago, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America formally abolished its celibacy requirement for gay and lesbian ministers.
Leaders and members of both of the U.S.-based denominations have been closely watching the schism in the Episcopal Church since 2003, when the Rev. Gene Robinson, an openly gay minister, was ordained as a bishop in New Hampshire.
As conservative churches began to defect, legal fights erupted over ownership of church property and, in many cases, have yet to be resolved.
The Torrance congregation started as a mission church of All Saints Anglican Church in Long Beach (formerly All Saints Episcopal). The pastor of that church, the Rev.
Churches In America - News
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In July, after years of debate, the Presbyterian Church (USA) lifted barriers to allowing gay clergy; a year ago, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America formally abolished its celibacy requirement for gay and lesbian ministers.
They want to destroy us as constituted and remake America in their unachievable utopian image. Inextricably linked to discussing politics and religion is the question of how churches should be involved. To ignore the complete culture war raging around
By right there should have been a black Church of England, but for some reason there wasn't,” said Hughes. “I don't know how many churches in the US that has been integrated for over 240 years.” “We have a lot to offer the rest of the world when it
Before conservative activists went after mainline churches over sexuality issues, Episcopalianism was the denomination of prestige, of white-shoed power and pre-eminence in the community. Travel to any town in America, ones ravaged by economic despair,
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