Convergence, from the very beginning

Through history, the Christian Church became grouped into three distinct traditions, each emphasizing one Person of the Trinity: the Evangelical stream focusing on God the Son, the Charismatic stream on God the Holy Spirit, and the Sacramental stream on God the Father. Over time the differences took priority over what was held in common, and the traditions grew largely separate from one another.

Renewal and the birth of convergence

From the 1960s through the 1980s, God brought revival to His divided people through the Charismatic Renewal. Believers from every background, culture and tradition were bound together by a shared encounter with the Holy Spirit, and a remnant of the Church began to rediscover its unity.

In time, the need to balance the Charismatic with the Sacramental was felt, and the concept of convergence was born. Believing that Christ is present and at work in all three traditions, convergence brings their strengths together for a more balanced, holistic expression of worship and a more unified body of believers. The Evangelical Episcopal Communion is centered on this conviction.

The founding convention

In 1994 and 1995, conversations began between Rev. Russell McClanahan, then head of a network called New Testament Ministries, and Robert Davis, President of the Board of the Evangelical Episcopal Church International, who was seeking to establish a network of convergent churches. The two groups merged.

On October 3, 1995, the founding convention met in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Twenty-five priests and seven deacons from five churches were ordained, and two bishops were consecrated in Apostolic Succession: Bishop Russell McClanahan over the Province of St. Peter, and Bishop Vince McCall. Three bishops in Apostolic Succession served as guest consecrators: Bishop Michael Owen as Chief Consecrator, joined by Bishops Daniel Gincig and Owen Augustin. Bishop Owen soon joined the young communion and was nominated its first Presiding Bishop. Within a few months Bishop McCall withdrew, leaving Bishops Owen and McClanahan as the two overseeing bishops.

A growing communion

From those small beginnings, the EEC has grown to include clergy, churches, ministries and house churches across the United States, Africa, Australia, South America, India and other parts of Asia. By God's grace, our numbers continue to grow.

• We believe in one God Who has revealed Himself in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• We believe that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ's sacrificial death on the cross.
• We believe in the historic essential doctrines of the Church as found in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds.
• We believe in the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures as the foundation for our personal and corporate life together.
• We believe that the Evangelical, Charismatic and Sacramental elements within the Church reflect the triune nature of God, and that the presence and power of Christ are at work in each of them.
• We believe that marriage is a covenant between one man and one woman.
• We believe that God created mankind as male or female, and that these two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God.