Free Church of England

The Free Church of England (FCE) is an Anglican church which separated from the established Church of England in the course of the 19th century. The church was founded principally by Evangelical or Low Church clergy and congregations in response to the rise of Anglo-Catholicism. The first congregations were formed in 1844. In the early years ministers were often provided by the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion which had its origins in the 18th century Evangelical Revival and by the middle of the 19th century still retained many Anglican features such as the use of the surplice and Book of Common Prayer. In 1863 the annual conference of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion created a constitution for the new congregations under the title The Free Church of England (though the name had been in use since the 1840s). The constitution made provision for the creation of dioceses, each to be under the oversight of a bishop. The first bishop was Benjamin Price, who initially had oversight of all the new congregations.

In 1874 the FCE made contact with the newly organised Reformed Episcopal Church in North America. In 1876 an REC bishop from Canada, Edward Cridge, came to the United Kingdom and consecrated Benjamin Price and John Sugden in the historic succession. The following year a branch of the REC was founded in the UK. The two churches lived in parallel until 1927, when the Free Church of England united with the UK branch of the Reformed Episcopal Church. The full name of the united Church since 1927 is: The Free Church of England, otherwise called the Reformed Episcopal Church in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The united church enjoyed modest growth in the first part of the 20th century, having at one point 90 congregations, but after the Second World War, like several other denominations in the UK, suffered a decline in numbers. In 2003 two bishops and a few clergy left the FCE, because of their objection to the FCE's increasing openness to engagement with other denominations, and came together as a small group of congregations calling themselves the Evangelical Connexion of the Free Church of England.

The Free Church of England is a conventional Anglican Church body, worshipping in the Low Church tradition and holding to the principles of the Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-Nine Articles. Presbyters and deacons wear surplice, scarf and hood; bishops wear rochet and chimere. The provision of contemporary language liturgies has been approved by Convocation and a process of drafting and authorisation has begun. The Church has continued to ordain bishops in the apostolic succession, with Moravian, Church of England and Indian Orthodox bishops taking part on occasion. The presiding bishop is chosen annually by Convocation and takes the title Bishop Primus. Only baptized males are ordained to Holy Orders: bishop, presbyter and deacon, or admitted as lay readers. In 2010, there were 29 ordained ministers and 1,155 communicant members of the FCE in England

The Free Church of England has two dioceses in England (designated North and South) and a church in Russia – The Church of Christ the Saviour, St. Petersburg. There are currently eighteen churches in England which are located as follows,

Northern Diocese

• St George's Church, Mill Hill, Blackburn, Lancashire
• The John Knowles Memorial Church, Hoyland, South Yorkshire
• Emmanuel Church, Morecambe, Lancashire
• Holy Trinity Church, Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire
• St David's Church, Preston, Lancashire
• St John's Church, Tottington, Greater Manchester
• Christ Church, Liscard, Wallasey, Merseyside

Southern Diocese

• St Jude's Church, Balham, London
• St Andrew's Church, Willenhall, Bentley, West Midlands
• Emmanuel Church, Saltley, Birmingham
• Christ Church, Broadstairs, Kent
• Christ Church, Exeter, Devon
• Christ Church, Exmouth, Devon
• Christ Church, Harlesden, London
• Christ Church, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
• St Jude's Church, Walsall, West Midlands
• Christ Church, Willesborough, Ashford, Kent

Some of the parishes have youth activities of various kinds. Each congregation elects churchwardens and delegates who, together with the clergy, constitute the diocesan synod and annual Convocation.

The Central Board of Trustees for the denomination, The Free Church of England Central Trust, operates as a registered UK charity (No. 271151) and is a company limited by guarantee with no share capital. It holds as loans funds deposited by the churches for investment and lends money and makes grants to further the objects and work of the FCE.

The FCE is a member of the UK Free Churches Group, Churches Together in England and the Evangelical Alliance. From 1992 to 1997 the FCE was in official dialogue with the Church of England, which the 1998 Lambeth Conference saw as a sign of hope for eventual reunion. It is a Designated Church under the Church of England's ecumenical canons. FCE bishops have attended the enthronements of George Carey and Rowan Williams as Archbishops of Canterbury.

The FCE is currently considering how best to respond to the current realignments within the Anglican Communion.