A group of American churches that left The Episcopal Church over theological differences is experiencing its own issues with breakaway congregations.

The Anglican Mission in the Americas, a South Carolina-based denomination connected to the Anglican Church of Rwanda, has found itself in a complex power struggle that has thus far resulted in 20 of its 250 affiliate churches and congregations leaving.

This whole episode began with the varied responses that several conservative Episcopal congregations had as their church hierarchy became increasingly liberal on social and theological issues. The increasingly liberal hierarchy of The Episcopal Church resulted in several congregations leaving the denomination.

Most formed their own denominations. Others, namely high church “Anglo-Catholic” congregations, decided to join the Roman Catholic Church under an agreement that they maintain their Anglican tradition.

Others, however, agreed to be mission churches for African Anglican Provinces. This is due to the theology of Anglican Churches in Africa being more conservative. Groups like this include the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), which was established by the Church of Nigeria, and the AMiA, which was established by the Church of Rwanda.
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Problems began after Emmanuel Kolini, the archbishop of Rwanda, retired in 2010. His successor, Archbishop Onesphore Rwaje, desired more oversight of AMiA, which led to tensions between Rwaje and American Bishop Charles Murphy, a missionary bishop ordained to head AMiA.

This led to the decision by some bishops including Murphy to resign in December of last year and leave the AMiA.

(Aquila Report Editor’s Note: It is our understanding that just the opposite is true. Murphy and all but two bishops have resigned from the ecclesiastical oversight of Rwanda. They are still the leaders of AMiA. The other two have remained with Rwanda and formed their own, new mission organization. AMiA is not a denomination; it is a mission group within a denomination. AMiA is now under the ecclesiastical oversight of their founding Archbishops Emmanuel Kolini (retired Rwanda, Moses Tay and Yong Ping Chung (both retired Southeast Asia) until they have a new provincial home within the Anglican Communion. Bishop Murphy is meeting with these overseeing archbishops to discuss options for the best way forward. For more news about the AMiA go to their website. [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]

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