MISSION STATEMENT OF THE REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Embraced by the Love of God, we are transformed into His people that we may change the world!
Our Defining Characteristics
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Leadership will equip everyone for service.
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Every member will use his or her gifts in Christ’s service.
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We will passionate follow the living Lord.
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Every structure in the Church will serve to realize the Church’s mission.
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Our worship will always center on God and be characterized by excellence and joy.
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We will create a church of small groups where faith and life are lived in community.
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We will faithfully invite others to “come and see” Jesus.
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Love will be the identifiable core of our congregation: love for God and love for one another.
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“Built upon the foundation of the authoritative Word of God, the Holy Scriptures, the Reformed Episcopal Church sets her highest priority on biblical worship and declares her commitment to the work of evangelism, the bold and unadulterated proclamation of salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 8:4). In keeping the faith once delivered to the saints, the Reformed Episcopal Church, however, does not believe evangelism to be the end, but rather the beginning of her divinely given vocation.”
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”In addition to being evangelical, she is deeply committed to discipleship, the work of training evangelized men and women in Christian living (Matthew 28:20). When the Gospel is truly proclaimed and the mercies of God are made known, redeemed men and women must be led to offer their bodes as a living sacrifice, which is their spiritual service (Romans 12:1). Thus, the Reformed Espiscopal Church understands the Christian life to be necessarily corporate. The Gospel call of salvation is not only to a savior, but also to a visible communion (I Cor. 12:27) which, being indwelt by Christ’s Spirit, transcends both temporal and geographic bounds.”
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”Therefore, the Reformed Episcopal Church is creedal, following the historic catholic faith as it was confessed by the early undivided Church in the Apostles' (A.D. 150), Nicene (A.D. 325), and Athanasian Creeds (circa A.D. 401); sacramental, practicing the divinely ordained sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as outward and visible signs of His inward and spiritual grace; liturgical, using the historic Book of Common Prayer; and episcopal, finding unity with the Church of the earliest Christian eras through submission to the government of godly bishops.”
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”In this fashion, by embracing the broad base of doctrine and practice inherent in apostolic Christianity received by the Church of the English Reformation and expressed in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, the Reformed Episcopal Church has a foundation for effective ministry in the name of Christ to a world whish is lost and dying without Him.”
OUR CORE BELIEFS
Lancelot Andrewes, the great Anglican bishop and the primary translator of the King James Bible, defines the parameters of our Christian faith this way:
One canon reduced to writing by God himself, two testaments, three creeds, four general councils, five centuries, and the series of Fathers in that period – the centuries that is, before Constantine, and two after, determine the boundary of our faith.
We are a people of one book, the Bible, who recognize the power of the Holy Spirit within his Church, especially within the three great creeds (Nicaean, Apostle’s, and Athanasian), the first four councils of the unified Church, and the much respected writings of the early Church Fathers. Thus, we hold to what unites all Christians, one with another: one Lord, one faith, one baptism.
CONSTITUTION
The name of this Diocese of the Reformed Episcopal Church is and shall be The Diocese of Mid-America.
The object of The Diocese of Mid-America is to establish, support, and maintain Churches and Missions of the Reformed Episcopal Church, and supervise and govern churches within its jurisdiction, aid the ministry of clergymen within the limits of the Diocese, and promote the general charitable work of the churches within the limits of the Diocese.
Section 1. The Diocese of Mid-America as a constituent part of the Reformed Episcopal Church, accedes to and accepts the principles and restrictions of the Declaration of Principles and the Constitution and Canons of the Reformed Episcopal Church.
Section 2. Said Diocese shall consist of all organized Parishes, Mission Parishes, and Extension Works, and all the assigned resident clergy of the Reformed Episcopal Church under the jurisdiction of this Diocese, such jurisdiction having been established by the General Council and its Constitution and Canons. The Parishes and Mission Parishes shall be represented at the Diocese meetings as the Canons of this Diocese direct.
Section 3. The territorial limits of the Diocese of Mid-America are those defined by the General Council of the Reformed Episcopal Church, subject to such amendment as may be later voted by a Council of this Diocese, with the consent of the General Council as follows:
By action of the 48th General Council, the Diocese of Mid-America is comprised of all states presently in the Diocese of Mid-America — that part of Tennessee which is west of the eastern fork of the Tennessee River plus the States of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and Puerto Rico.
Section 1. The legislation of the Diocese of Mid-America and the direction of all matters that belong to and affect the Diocese of Mid-America shall be vested in a Council of the Diocese of Mid-America, subject to the restrictions of Article III, Section 1.
Section 2. The Bishop and Standing Committee shall be the ecclesiastical authority of the Diocese of Mid-America. If there is no Bishop of the Diocese of Mid-America, the Presiding Bishop, chairing the Standing Committee, shall be the ecclesiastical authority.
Section 3. All boards and committees of the Diocese of Mid-America shall be under the supervision of the Bishop and Standing Committee of the Diocese of Mid-America, which Committee shall within the limits of the Constitution and Canons of the Diocese have veto power over their operations and actions.
Section 4. The Bishop shall be a member ex-officio of all committees whether elective or appointed.
Section 1. The Bishop Ordinary, Bishop Coadjutor, Suffragan Bishops, and any Bishop canonically elected or received in another capacity, and all Presbyters of the Diocese of Mid-America, and any Deacon who is Minister-in-Charge of a Parish within the Diocese of Mid-America shall be clergy members of the Council.
Section 2. All Chairmen of Committees of the Diocese of Mid-America and authorized Agencies of the Diocese of Mid-America including lay members of the Standing Committee and Board of Trustees of the Diocese shall be members of the Council.
Section 3. All lay delegates elected in accordance with the provisions of Title II, Canon V, of the Canons of the Diocese of Mid-America.
Section 4. Licensed Lay Readers pastoring a Church or a Parish within the Diocese of Mid-America may be elected by any Council to membership therein.
Section 5. No one shall be a member of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America who is not a communicant member of the Reformed Episcopal Church in good and regular standing.
Section 6. By a two-thirds vote, visitors and friends of our Church may be made Corresponding Members for the duration of the meeting of the Council. Corresponding membership shall confer the right to speak upon the floor of the house, but not to vote in deliberations.
Section 1. The Council or Synod, which terms shall be synonymous, of the Diocese of Mid-America shall convene its regular meeting on the second Wednesday of October each year, at such time and place as shall have been designated at the next preceding meeting, unless such time or place of meeting, or both, shall have been changed in the manner set forth in Section 2 or Section 3 of this Article.
Section 2. In case there shall be any good cause rendering it advisable to change either, or both, the time or the place fixed for any meeting of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America, the Bishop, by and with the consent of two-thirds of the members of the Standing Committee, may do so.
If such change is made, the Bishop shall give thirty days' notice thereof to every Parish and Mission Parish entitled to representation in the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America.
Section 3. The Bishop of the Diocese of Mid-America may also call special meetings of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America, by and with written consent of two-thirds of the members of the Standing Committee, and any such meetings shall be held at the time and place designated in the call to the meeting. Thirty days' notice thereof shall be given by the Bishop to every Parish and Mission Parish specifying the object or objects of such meeting in the manner prescribed in Section 2 of this Article.
Section 4. The Delegates appointed to the next preceding Council of the Diocese of Mid-America shall be delegates to any special meeting, unless in the interim, any Parish shall have elected other delegates.
Section 1. The Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of Mid-America shall be the President and Presiding Officer of the Council, and except in the case of disability or other impairment shall preside at all meetings of the Council.
Section 2. The other officers of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America shall be Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer, and such other officers as the Diocese of Mid-America Council may decide upon from time to time. The officers shall be elected by ballot at each regular meeting, upon the organization of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America and shall hold their respective offices until their successors have been elected and have qualified.
Section 3. The Vice-President shall be a Bishop or Presbyter of the Diocese of Mid-America and shall preside at all meetings of Council when the Bishop Ordinary is absent or in the event of a disability or other impairment of the President until the election or installation of a new Bishop Ordinary.
Section 4. The Secretary may be a Presbyter, or a lay person in the Diocese of Mid-America. With the consent of the Council, the Secretary may appoint an Assistant Secretary to help with the duties while the Council is in session.
Section 5. The several officers described in Section 1 shall perform the duties which usually pertain to their offices and such other duties as may be assigned to them by the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America.
Section 6. In the event of the resignation, removal, or death of the President, the Presiding Bishop, in consultation with the Standing Committee, shall appoint a suitable person to fill the office until the office can be filled.
Section 7. In the case of the death or disability or resignation of the Vice-President, the President, in concurrence with a majority of the Standing Committee, shall forthwith appoint a suitable person to fill the office and execute the duties thereof until the next regular meeting of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America.
Section 8. In the case of the death or disability or resignation of the Secretary, or any Treasurer, the President, in concurrence with a majority of the Standing Committee, shall forthwith appoint a suitable person to fill the office and execute the duties thereof until the next regular meeting of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America.
Section 9. The Treasurer of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America shall be the Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Diocese of Mid-America.
Section 1. The proceedings at the meetings of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America shall be regulated by such parliamentary rules as the Council may from time to time adopt; provided, however, that whenever ten or more members of the Council call for a vote by orders, it shall be allowed. In such case the Bishop shall vote as a Presbyter, and the concurrence of both orders shall be necessary to the passage of the measure so voted on.
Section 2. In all business of the Council, freedom of debate shall be allowed, subject to the Council to fix and limit the length of time for debate.
Section 3. A majority of the Presbyters and a majority of the delegates from the Parishes of the Diocese of Mid-America shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but any number may adjourn from day to day to await the arrival of a quorum.
Section 4. A call for prayer is always in order in the deliberations of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America.
Section 1. The following Committees and Boards shall be appointed by the Bishop at the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America at its regular meetings:
(1) The Standing Committee shall consist of three Presbyters and three laymen nominated by a committee appointed by the Bishop for that purpose, and elected by the Council to serve overlapping three-year terms, with one new member of each order being elected at each annual meeting of the Council. The Council may also fill the unexpired portion of any term vacated during the previous year. The Bishop Coadjutor, and other Bishops together with the Archdeacon and Canons shall be ex-officio members of the Standing Committee in accordance with the Canons of the Reformed Episcopal Church. The Standing Committee shall be organized and shall operate in conformity with Canon 46 of the Constitution and Canons of the Reformed Episcopal Church.
(2) The Board of Trustees of the Diocese of Mid-America shall consist of three Presbyters and three laymen to be nominated by a committee appointed by the Bishop for that purpose, and with one of each order being elected by the Council to serve overlapping three-year terms, with one new member of each order being elected at each annual meeting of the Council. In addition, the Vice-President and Secretary of the Council shall be members of the Trustees.
(3) A Nominations Committee shall be appointed by the Bishop Ordinary to nominate one qualified person of each order for each open position for a full or partial term on the Standing Committee and the Board of Trustees and present such nominations to the annual or special Synod.
(4) A Board of Examining Chaplains shall be appointed in accordance with Canon 4 of the Reformed Episcopal Church consisting of at least three Presbyters of the Diocese.
Section 2. Such other Committees as are determined necessary to the orderly operation of the Diocese of Mid-America shall be appointed by the Bishop.
This Constitution may be amended by a unanimous vote of any stated meeting of the Council, or of any special meeting thereof called for the purpose; otherwise, by a two-thirds vote at one stated meeting of the Council, ratified by a two-thirds vote at the next succeeding stated meeting thereof. A motion to adopt for first reading, even though passed unanimously when made, shall not constitute final passage but shall require ratification at the next stated meeting of the Council. If it is intended to have an amendment passed without a second reading, it shall be stated so when it is offered or proposed.
CANONS
Section 1. Annually before the meeting of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America, the Bishop, or if there be none, the Standing Committee, shall prepare or cause to be prepared, a Roll of the Clergy of the Diocese of Mid-America, with names of their respective charges, together with their places of residence; and also, with particulars of time and place, the names of all ministers who have been ordained or received from other churches or have resigned, or died, or have been dropped from the Clergy Roll, or may have been subject to discipline. Such Clergy Roll shall be laid before the Council immediately after it shall have been called to order and the names of the clerical members called therefrom. This Clergy Roll shall be published in the Journal, and the Secretary of the Diocese of Mid-America shall send a copy of the same to the Secretary of the General Council.
Section 2. It shall be the duty of every minister in the Diocese of Mid-America, except he be retired because of age or disability, who is not in charge of a Parish or otherwise engaged in the service of the Diocese of Mid-America, to report, in writing, within thirty days immediately preceding the convening of the annual Council of the Diocese of Mid-America, to the Bishop, or if he is not in office, to the Standing Committee, stating his address and occupation. The notation of the receipt of such reports shall be appended to the Clergy Roll.
Any minister failing so to report for two or more successive meetings of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America shall be dropped from the Clergy Roll, in which event he may be restored by reporting for two successive years to the Bishop (or to the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Mid-America). Such reporting must include a satisfactory explanation for his previous failure to report. A call to an active pastorate will negate the need for the disciplinary action to be carried out.
Section 3.
A Presbyter in charge of a Parish shall be designated the Rector, or Pastor, thereof.
A Deacon in charge of a Parish shall be designated the Minister-in-Charge thereof.
A Presbyter or Deacon in charge of a Mission Parish by appointment of the Diocese of Mid-America Bishop and Standing Committee shall be designated the Vicar thereof
A Lay Reader may be licensed by the Bishop to conduct Divine Worship in a Parish or Mission without pastoral care (Reformed Episcopal Church, Constitution and Canons, Canon 24, Section 1 (a)), but such licensing may only be provided to those who are Communicants of this church and meet the requirements for a Deacon as noted in I Timothy 3:8-13.
Section 4. The mandatory age for retirement of Presbyters from active service on the employed staff of the Diocese of Mid-America, or in a Parish or Mission Parish, shall be 70 years of age, which period of service can be extended annually for a maximum of five more years by consent of the Standing Committee and the relevant employing Board where staff membership is concerned, or of the Bishop and Standing Committee alone where the Minister of a Mission Parish is concerned.
Section 1. The Bishop shall hold office during life, except as limited elsewhere in the Constitution or Canons of the General Council of the Reformed Episcopal Church.
Section 2. At least thirty days before the Council at which a Bishop is to be elected notice in writing of such election shall be sent by the Secretary of the Standing Committee to every clergyman and vestry in the Diocese. A majority of the parishes must be represented at a Council in which a Bishop is to be elected. The vote shall be by orders and a majority of those present of both orders shall be necessary to a choice.
Section 3. The Bishop shall preside at all meetings of the Council and may deliver his sentiments on any subject after it has been discussed and before a vote thereon. In case of tie he may cast the deciding vote. The Bishop shall also preside at all meetings of the Board of Trustees and Standing Committee. He shall have, in addition to all other powers hereby specifically conferred, those which ordinarily pertain to the President of an Illinois corporation organized under law, but not for pecuniary purposes.
In the event of the inability of the President to act during a session of the Council, or between sessions, the Vice-President shall discharge his duties while such inability continues, except the episcopal acts and ecclesiastical duties pertaining to the office of Bishop of the Diocese of Mid-America.
It shall be the duty of the Secretary to take the Minutes and record all proceedings of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America, and together with the Bishop, to attest its official acts, preserve its records, and notify the parishes thirty days in advance of the time and places of all meetings of the Council. The Secretary shall direct the printing and distribution to the parishes of the Journal of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America and shall preserve in the archives of the Diocese of Mid-America at least ten (10) copies thereof.
Before printing, the copy of the Journal shall be examined by and have the approval of the President of the Council, or in his absence by someone designated by the Standing Committee. In the case of the death, disability, or resignation of the Secretary, the President, in concurrence with a majority of the Standing Committee, shall forthwith appoint a suitable person to fill the office and execute the duties thereof until the next regular meeting of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America.
It shall be the duty of all Treasurers elected by the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America, or acting under its supervision, to receive the monies belonging to their respective funds and to distribute the same under the direction of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America and/or the conventions, boards or committees under which they serve. Their accounts shall be rendered to the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America and audited by a committee appointed by the Bishop. A certificate of audit by a professional accountant may be accepted in lieu of examination by such Auditing Committee. In the case of the death or disability or resignation of any Treasurer, the President, in concurrence with a majority of the Standing Committee, shall forthwith appoint a suitable person to fill the office and execute the duties thereof until the next regular meeting of the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America. The business of the Diocese shall be conducted according to generally accepted principles of accounting, and the records of the Diocese shall be maintained in accordance with Canon 44 of the Canons of the General Council of the Reformed Episcopal Church.
Section 1. The Standing Committee, consisting of a minimum of three Presbyters and three laymen to be nominated by a committee appointed by the Bishop for that purpose, and with one of each order being elected by the Council to serve overlapping three-year terms, with one new member of each order being elected at each annual meeting of the Council, shall be the Advisory Board to the Bishop of the Diocese of Mid-America and have such powers and perform such duties as are provided by the Constitution and Canons of the Reformed Episcopal Church, the Constitution and Canons of the Diocese of Mid-America and such duties as may be assigned by the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America.
Section 2. The Bishop of the Diocese of Mid-America shall be Chairman of this Committee, ex-officio. At its first meeting after each Synod, the lay and clergy members of the Standing Committee shall elect from its own body, a President in accordance with Canon 46 Section 1 of the Canons of the General Council. The President shall be a Bishop or Presbyter. The President may call a meeting of the Standing Committee when he deems such to be necessary. The Secretary of the Diocese as elected by the Council shall also serve as the Secretary of the Standing Committee and shall keep the Minutes of its meetings, and perform such other clerical duties as the Committee may direct.
Section 3. A simple majority shall constitute a quorum.
Section 4. The Committee shall make a report of its proceedings to each annual Council of the Diocese of Mid-America and to each General Council of the Reformed Episcopal Church.
Section 1. The Board of Trustees shall consist of the President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and the other members. The Board shall meet upon call of the President, Vice-President, or any two members, upon three days' notice in writing. A simple majority of the Trustees shall constitute a quorum. The Board of Trustees of the Diocese of Mid-America shall consist of a minimum of three Presbyters and three laymen to be nominated by a committee appointed by the Bishop for that purpose, and with one of each order being elected by the Council to serve overlapping three-year terms, with one new member of each order being elected at each annual meeting of the Council. The Bishop of the Diocese of Mid-America shall be Chairman of this Committee, ex-officio. The Bishop Coadjutor and Archdeacon, if any, shall also be ex-officio members of this Committee.
Section 2. The Board shall hold in trust, invest, change investment, control, and care for all funds and other property of the Diocese, and may, by vote of at least two-thirds of its members, authorize the leasing, mortgaging, encumbering, selling, and conveying of any and all property of the Diocese, in its discretion. It shall also take all necessary legal steps to establish title to the property of the Diocese and of all extinct parishes. It shall exercise special care that parish property which shall have been acquired in whole or in part by grants from the Board be secured to the Reformed Episcopal Church, and it shall make the amount of its grants to any parish for the acquisition of property payable to the Diocese whenever such property shall be alienated from the uses of the Reformed Episcopal Church.
Section 3. The Trustees shall give such bonds as the Council from time to time may require and shall make full report to each Council of the condition of their trusts.
Section 4. The Secretary of the Diocese as elected by the Council shall also serve as Secretary of the Board of Trustees and shall keep the minutes of its meetings and perform such other clerical duties as the Board may direct.
Section 5. It shall be a specific duty of the Board to prepare annually an estimate of the financial requirements of the Diocese for the ensuing fiscal year and a plan for meeting them, and to submit this to the Diocesan Council for adoption. It shall also be the duty of the Board to take such steps as may be necessary to provide the monies required, except such portions as may be otherwise specifically provide for.
Section 6. The Board shall make a report of its proceedings to each annual Council of the
Diocese of Mid-America.
Section 1. The following organizations are recognized as authorized agencies of the Diocese of Mid-America and are entitled to representation in the Council of the Diocese of Mid-America under Article V, Section 2, of the Constitution:
The Women of the Church
Cranmer Theological House
Section 2. Each organization authorized under this Canon must operate under a constitution approved by the Bishop and the Standing Committee and must report their actions and finances to the annual Council of the Diocese of Mid-America. Failure to meet these conditions shall be grounds for action of the Bishop and the Standing Committee to rescind any previous recognition, to seize their funds for purposes of the Diocese of Mid-America and to forbid their activity among Parishes and mission Parishes of the Diocese of Mid-America
