Two of the largest, oldest and most influential Episcopal churches in the country have decided to leave the mother church and affiliate with an alternative Anglican group -- one under the authority of an African bishop.
The Truro Church in Fairfax, Va., and The Falls Church in Falls Church, Va., voted overwhelmingly to leave the Episcopal Church of the USA (ECUSA) and to join the fledgling Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), a group connected to Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, a prominent and outspoken leader of traditionalists. They were joined by six smaller congregations in Virginia.
Jim Oakes, the senior warden of the vestry (head of the church's ruling body) at Truro Church, said the vote to sever ties with ECUSA was nearly unanimous -- 1,010 votes yes, 85 no.
"It was extremely hard," Oakes told CitizenLink on Monday. "It's like a death in the family. This is an action that has been brewing, frankly, for years, as the Episcopal Church has more and more become two denominations under one roof -- almost two faiths under one roof."
The larger and more vocal wing of the Episcopal Church, he said, has drifted steadily towards a more secular view of the role of faith, the authority of the Bible and the personhood of Jesus.
"A smaller, but I think much stronger, branch has continued to embrace the tenets of orthodox Christianity," Oakes added.
The split has been brewing since the national church consecrated an open homosexual, V. Gene Robinson, as the bishop of New Hampshire, three years ago.
"The final straw was the actions of the General Convention in 2006," Oakes said, "where they not only failed to turn back from that course, but in some ways went further down that road. That led us to believe it was time finally to make some decisions."
The Rev. Rob Schenck of Faith and Action attends one of Truro's daughter congregations, one of the six churches that also voted to leave Sunday.
"There's really cause for rejoicing here," he said. "This was an affirmation of the Gospel. The reason these votes were taken was to remain faithful to the Gospel as we have it in the Bible, to historic Christian moral teaching, and to the integrity of the Church as a whole."
It is a momentous event not just for Anglicans, but for the whole church of Jesus Christ, Schenck added.
"This has ramifications which go far beyond the Episcopal world," he explained, "because it sends the message that those churches that are experimenting, and who are leaving behind their Christian faith and their fidelity to the Scriptures and to the accepted doctrines and moral practices of the Church, really do not have a very bright future."
The Rev. Canon David Anderson of the American Anglican Council said the breakup was "breathtakingly exciting" -- but it wasn't caused by the churches in Virginia. They were simply being faithful.
"The perpetrators of schism are, in fact, the top levels of leadership of the Episcopal Church," Anderson said. "They have taken up another Gospel. They believe now that there are many ways to God -- and Jesus is simply one of them. We argue that that's not the case -- that what the Bible says is still accurate."
The Rt. Rev. Peter Lee, ECUSA bishop of Virginia, said the two churches, which date back to the founding of the United States or earlier, "are now occupied by African congregations" -- a reference to Akinola -- and that the church buildings belong to ECUSA.
Both Truro Church and Falls Church, however, say they own their own buildings --- and Virginia law does not recognize ECUSA's claim over the property.
