New Anglican Church Forms in Winchester
Trinity Members Leave Historical Downtown Property and Episcopal Church Affiliation Behind
WINCHESTER, Tenn. Following the annual congregational meeting on January 6, the rector, staff, lay leadership, and most of the members of Trinity Episcopal Church in Winchester, TN walked away from the historical building on First Avenue, N.W. in order to form Christ the King Anglican Church, a new Anglican congregation in Winchester.
At Sunday’s meeting, the Rev. William Midgett, Trinity’s rector since 2001, submitted his resignation and announced his disaffiliation from the Episcopal Church. Trinity’s other paid staff and the eight-member vestry followed suit.
“The present conflict in the Episcopal Church boils down to choosing between two gospels. These two gospels, one true and one false, are not allowed to co-exist within the body of Christ,” said the Rev. Midgett. Such is the conviction of the former rector and members that they will walk away from the property and financial assets of Trinity Church and begin anew.
Trinity’s congregation was founded in 1859. Several generations of Franklin County Christians have worshiped at the present location since 1876. “The decision to leave the Episcopal Church and the property has been extremely difficult, said the Rev. Midgett. “Many members of our congregation have been Episcopalians all of their lives. Some of our parishioners have worshiped at Trinity for over 50 years. Yet they have chosen to follow the traditional teachings of Christ. It has become impossible to remain true to both the gospel and to the Episcopal Church as it is presently constituted.”
Trinity Episcopal Church is located in the Diocese of Tennessee approximately 90 miles from Nashville. Trinity had an ASA of 118 in 2006. 90 former members of Trinity attended a worship service and light supper at the new home of Christ the King Anglican Church on Sunday evening. While the parish did not take a formal vote, it is expected that about 100 individuals will join the new Anglican congregation.
Christ the King Anglican Church will affiliate with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). CANA is a new, rapidly growing Anglican missionary effort in the U.S. sponsored by the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). CANA is based in Fairfax, VA and is led by Bishop Martyn Minns, a former Episcopal priest. CANA numbers about 60 congregations and over 100 clergy in twenty states, with a total average Sunday attendance of approximately 8,600.
“We are grateful that the Anglican Church of Nigeria has reached out to traditional Anglican Christians in the U.S.”, said the Rev. Midgett. “Our association with the worldwide Anglican Communion is an integral part of our identity.”
Christ the King Anglican Church will worship and have offices at the former V.R. Williams Insurance office building in Winchester.
There are two previously existing CANA congregations in middle Tennessee: St. Patrick’s in Smyrna and the Anglican Fellowship of Middle Tennessee in Tullahoma.
Another Episcopal congregation in the Diocese of Tennessee also departed TEC on January 6. The Vicar and most of the members of Holy Cross, Murfreesboro, TN have formed Faith Anglican Fellowship, affiliated with the Anglican Church of Uganda.
I wrote the following reflections on the departures in Winchester and Murfreesboro. They were originally posted on Covenant and I offer them here for those who wouldn’t see them otherwise.
Alice in Wonderland and waking up in Tennessee
Alice in Wonderland. That’s what one friend recently compared the state of our church to. He was relating to me his feelings regarding a decision he’d made that he hadn’t anticipated, all because of the current conflicts. It does often seem as though we’ve gone down the rabbit hole, or have been invited to one of the Hatter’s tea parties. I had my own experience of that early this morning when I learned that two priests and many people whom I love have decided to leave the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Tennessee for what are for them, greener ecclesial pastures. I’ve spoken with several of those who have determined to go and have read their emailed notes and I understand the relief they express. It’s one I and many others still await, though I pray by other means.
When I came to The University of the South in 2003, I was an MA student, unsure of the direction of my call or how to pursue it in a church that was already showing signs of the chaos that would erupt. The first priest in Tennessee that I met in person was Fr. Bill Midgett of Trinity Episcopal Church in Winchester. Neither of us could have known then of the relationship that we would form, or of the ways God would bring us together and entwine the congregation of Trinity Church in my life. Eventually however, Trinity became my sponsoring parish as I went through the discernment process in the Diocese of Tennessee and transferred into the M.Div program at Sewanee. While I was going through the process I was assigned a liaison with the commission on ministry named Fr. Freddy Richardson who was the Vicar of one of the church plants in the Diocese, Holy Cross Church in Murfreesboro Tennessee. In time I had the opportunity not only of worshiping with the wonderful and Christ-loving people at Trinity Church, but to do my field education under Fr. Freddy at Holy Cross Church.
These connections would be enough to make news of their departure difficult to bear, but Fr. Bill performed our wedding ceremony as well, and when I graduated from Sewanee, I was placed at Trinity Church to serve my curacy, while my wife ministered there for two years as youth minister. On December 17, 2006 I was ordained to the priesthood at Trinity. There’s no such thing as an easy divergence of direction in such circumstances. And so, it was bitter news when I heard this morning that Fr. Freddy and most of the people at Holy Cross had departed and formed Faith Anglican Fellowship. And while it was not surprising, it was no less bitter when I got the news later today that Fr. Bill and many of those at Trinity had made the same decision and have formed Christ the King Anglican Church. The diocese cannot help but seem a great deal lonelier and more empty for me today.
I have no words of accusation or bitterness toward these friends and loved ones who have gone a different way, and I pray it is only a temporary divergence and we will come together again on the far side banks of Jordan, out of this current wilderness we find ourselves in as a communion. I pray for their ministries, and ask that they do the same for mine and for the mission I serve, St. Francis Church.
I also pray for the Diocese of Tennessee and our Bishop–there is never an easy time to be a leader, but there are times that are worse than others. And these days, when emotions are stretched thin and people are strained by the real or perceived dissonance in their ministries, it is certainly worse.
Jody,
do you lay NO blame on the actions and repudiation of the Faith handed down from the Apostles on the General Convention and the leadership of TEC?
Is, in your mind, all the blame to be laid at the feet of those who wish to be true to Christ and the teachings of Historic Biblical Christianity?
Sorry, I meant
Jody+.
forgot to add the “+”
Library Jim,
Where do you see blame at all in what I wrote? You must be looking for something that isn’t there. Of course I oppose the innovations in TEC, but then, that wasn’t the point of what I wrote was it? Re-read what I wrote without a chip on your shoulder.
By the way… before you make assumptions, I invite you to read my personal blog which goes back at least four years, and you’ll get a picture of what I think. I was writing that processing the departure of friends. I’m sorry we’ve come to a point where everything must be a protestation of orthodoxy or a slamming of revisionism. People need to grow up.
[b]libraryjim[/b] wrote:[blockquote]Is, in your mind, all the blame to be laid at the feet of those who wish to be true to Christ and the teachings of Historic Biblical Christianity?[/blockquote]
Jim, did you miss this part? [blockquote][b]I have no words of accusation or bitterness toward these friends and loved ones who have gone a different way, [/b]and I pray it is only a temporary divergence and we will come together again on the far side banks of Jordan, out of this current wilderness we find ourselves in as a communion. I pray for their ministries, and ask that they do the same for mine and for the mission I serve, St. Francis Church.
[/blockquote]
I know Jody+ and although I am supportive of my friends Freddy+ and Bill+, I am also very glad that there are fine orthodox priests like Jody+ who remain in the Diocese of Tennessee and stand with the orthodox laity like myself who stay. Sniping at each other for not being ‘orthodox enough’ or choosing one path over another is highly destructive.
Sorry, Jody+, I know you don’t need me to defend you.
It’s OK Scott. Thank you. If our assurances don’t help though Libararyjim could always ask Fr. Bill or Fr. Freddy–they wouldn’t have sponsored a raving revisionist through the process. :-p
God bless.
Just curious Jody+ . . . what’s keeping you there? The diocese although better than some is clearly divided (you lived on the mountain long enough to see how badly divided, and you lived through the endless balloting during the first vote for diocesan bishop), and the leadership of the church is tilting in the opposite direction from yours from what I read in your blog. I’d be curious to know how you see soldiering on in this environment.
Anglicanhopeful,
It wasn’t my intention to hijack this thread. I appreciate your question and will provide a response to it on my site tonight or tomorrow. Believe me, it’s a question I’ve asked myself.
God bless.
Jody+,
My apologies if I misread. But the following passages [i]seemed[/i] to me to be casting blame with ‘loaded phrasing’:
[i]I had my own experience of that early this morning when I learned that two priests and many people whom I love have decided to leave the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Tennessee [b]for what are for them, greener ecclesial pastures[/b]. [/i]
To me, leaving to stand for the truth is not seeing ‘greener ecclesial pastures’, and that was what raised a ‘warning flag’ that you were casting blame on them.
and
[i]And these days, when emotions are stretched thin and people are strained by the real or perceived dissonance in their ministries, it is certainly worse. [/i]
the “perceived dissonance in their ministries” was the second phrase.
Again, I apologize for misreading these statements as accusations agianst those standing for Biblical Truth, and pray God will bless you in your stand for Him.
Jim Elliott <><
Jim,
Thank you, but those were intentional phrases. The choice to leave was necessary for them and the choices they’ve made to affiliate with other provinces mean their ministries can flourish without the conflicts they were experiencing. Hence “what are for them, greener ecclesial pastures.” To say that those pastures would be greener for everyone would be to admit that there is no place for an orthodox voice in TEC, even in opposition and everyone needs to get out now. There are some orthodox who hold that positition, and that’s fine, but I don’t pretend to. The phrase “real and perceived” (don’t leave out the first) was intentional also, since there is a subjective quality to these sorts of decisions. Hence the illegitimacy for anyone–whether still in or having left TEC–to cast judgment upon the decisions of others who are motivated to do what they do by the same faith. God calls us to follow him in different ways. Not everyone is called to stay in Corinth… some have done that and now feel called to go elsewhere for the sake of their ministries and I wish them well and remain their friend.
#11: But I think you didn’t misread at all. The implications are all there and Jody+’s responses do not match the implications of the original text. I too would like to hear why +Jody is staying in place, and I would partlcularly like to have this answered :Do you believe that churches who leave TEC for an outside diocese are doing what is wrong? That,e.g., the Southern Cone, is invading improperly and should be castigated? Larry
Larry,
It might be the right thing for a given priest or congregation spiritually and practically (the second is more true in some parts of the country than others), but still not be the best thing for the overall resolution of the conflict in the Anglican Communion. At some point a pastor has to look at his own heart and the hearts of his people and determine what is more important. If ministry is being impaired by remaining in TEC, and people are obsessing over the conflict and it’s attendant tensions than on the worship of Jesus and proclaiming the Gospel, then it’s time to go.
I don’t place the interventions on the same par as what TEC has done because the one begat the other and as far as I know no one in leadership in say, the Southern Cone, denies that Jesus is the way to the Father. At the same time I believe there has to be either a Communion oriented solution or these decisions won’t matter anyway and we could have jumped ship to any number of entities–Anglican and non-Anglican–long ago, and avoided all the vitriol (and comment threads).
This is my last reply on this thread… as I said I didn’t want to hijack it. Either come to my blog later and engage me there, or focus on something else.
Blessings
Until TEC repents of it’s heresy and persecution of the Orthodox, there can and will be no resolution of the conflict. Unfortunately, that is the fact. TEC has routinely ignored the calls of the majority of the Anglican Communion to “come together” again. So, tell me, Jody+, what choice is there, but to call on the AC to put more pressure on the American black sheep child.
Also unfortunately, TEC has stopped preaching Christ and Him Crucified and gone to a socially conscious, hippie Jesus replacement from the one found in the Gospels. How is someone, be they priest or entire congregation and diocese, to reconcile the fact that they are no longer in a CHRISTIAN denomination?
They did what was right, TEC is totally lost, soon we will need to start doing the same in England. The provinces in the West are totally dominated by the revisionists(NEW THING RELIGION)
Paulo UK, this has not really anything to do with this thread, but I want to ask – – I have heard that a Bill in the UK to disestablish the CoE has been introduced into the Parliament. The number of the Bill (so I am told) is No. 666. Is this a joke, or is there truth to it? I cannot decide whether to laugh about it, or what. . .
I know this following quote is not from the dio of Tennessee (it’s from Ft. Worth, posted about three topics newer than this one), but it sure does put things clearly and in perspective, and I doubt the two parishes mentioned in the press release would disagree… I would like to see Jody+ comment on it, though:
[blockquote]While nothing will change in the day-to-day operations of the churches in the Diocese of Fort Worth, we expect a significant change in attitude and focus of the clergy and people of the diocese. Becoming a member Diocese of the Province of the Southern Cone would allow the Diocese of Fort Worth the opportunity and freedom to continue to practice the “Faith once delivered to all the saints†without being constantly distracted by the controversies and divisions caused by innovations hostile to traditional Christian norms. Instead, it would allow the Diocese to concentrate on the call of Jesus Christ to preach the Gospel and make new disciples, while at the same time assuring our continued place in the mainstream of Anglicanism, an assurance The Episcopal Church is unable to give. [/blockquote]
Jody+: The post was written by you. So no talking about hijacking!!! I would expect you to ‘be around’ to clarify points about your post.
🙂
Bill
Oops! You didn’t write the post but it was still entirely appropriate for you to hang out here to answer questions about the post and your lengthy comment. 🙂
The essence of grief is separation from those we love.
No one of us has the right to invade the conscience of
another of us. We have no reason to separate from love
of one another, nor to invade the other’s conscience.
I am grieved when friends quarrel in this way. I personally
know and love all the principals in Tennessee, so please
stop this quarreling because it gives ground to our common enemy and deflects our common mission and our focus on the Lord Jesus Christ.