Our History
The Charismatic Episcopal Church, more officially known as the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church (ICCEC), is an international Christian Communion established as an autocephalous communion in 1992. The ICCEC is not a splinter group of any other denomination or communion, but a new missional global church that is a convergence of the sacramental, evangelical, liturgical, and charismatic traditions that it perceives in the church from the apostolic era until present times.
The Charismatic Episcopal Church believes orthodoxy and orthopraxy to be the essence of the apostolic faith of the New Testament Church and holds the ancient Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds as their official doctrinal statements. The word episcopal is used to describe its hierarchy of bishops. Many churches in the ICCEC, however, claim an orthodox Anglican identity and many use the American 1928 Book of Common Prayer and the (1979 BCP). A new Sacramentary, now in broad trial use, contains modified Roman, Anglican, and Eastern rites.
While the ICCEC is a young communion, it occupies a position and finds its identity within the crucible of historic Anglo-Catholic, Orthodox faith through both Anglican and Catholic liturgical worship [i.e., Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil] lines, receiving its apostolic succession through pure lines of undisputed orthodox Christianity. We embrace to incorporate Eastern Orthodox spirituality / Western Christianity and revised Anglican rites into our charismatic worship.
While rooted in ancient Christianity we also believe that the ICCEC has been raised by God to be a new jurisdiction with pillars in the historic, apostolic churches as well as the charismatic and evangelical movements of our own generation. In this respect the ICCEC exists as a “convergence of streams” — a unifier of the liturgical/sacramental, evangelical, and charismatic tributaries of the Church Universal, which flow into the one river, whose streams make glad the city of God, the Holy Place where the Most-High dwells” (Psalm 46:4). The seeds of this convergence movement were planted in May 1977, when a group of evangelical leaders came together to issue a powerful call to all evangelicals to rediscover their roots in historic Christianity. “The Chicago Call,” as it came to be known, was signed by such people as Peter Gilquist, Thomas Howard, Robert Webber, and Jon Braun. Their message–a recovery of our common sacramental and apostolic roots for the faithful transmission of the Gospel–became the catalyst and heartbeat for our church. Today, clergy and laymen of the ICCEC, traveling from their heritage in Evangelical, Pentecostal/Charismatic, Anglican, Roman, and Eastern Orthodox expressions, now have the common vision of making the Kingdom of God visible to the nations of the world.
The founding vision of the ICCEC states: “We seek to bring the rich sacramental and liturgical life of the early church to searching evangelicals and charismatics as well as carrying the power of Pentecost to our brothers and sisters in the historical churches, all the while providing a home for all Christians who seek an expression of faith that is equally liturgical/sacramental, evangelical, and charismatic.”
Uniquely, the ICCEC was birthed in June 1992 and is not a schism or splinter church. It was a unique new work of God borne into the hearts of dedicated and faithful clergy from several denominations (Pentecostals, Baptists, Anglicans, Lutherans, Independent Charismatics, Wesleyans, etc.) who studied, prayed over, and witnessed this need for a house of convergence. They were burdened for a church that not only exercised apostolic authority within a liturgical framework but operated under the inspiration and anointing of the Holy Spirit. Our form of Catholicism promotes Traditional, Sacramental worship, while counseling individuals to discover divinity within. The ICCEC holds that no one should stand between the individual and God, “in Whom we live, move, and have our being.”
We draw both from Eastern and Western Orthodox Traditions and when priests are validly ordained under Apostolic Succession can call themselves “Catholic Priests” and when their liturgies conform to the essentials of Tradition, they can administer the Traditional Catholic Sacraments. We draw heavily from three apostolic streams of succession which validates our ministries globally.
On June 26, 1992, Father Randolph Adler was consecrated as the church’s first Bishop and Primate
We are men and women of faith gathered from diverse backgrounds seeking an expression of the ACTS 2 early apostolic church that is fully Anglo-Orthodox and catholic. We embrace the fullness of the sacramental-liturgical, evangelical, and charismatic. These three streams converge not in confusion but in unity, with no one stream preeminent over the others:
• We are a Church that is submitted to the authority of Scripture, as interpreted by the continuing witness of the ancient church and governed by consensus. Our worship and spirituality are biblically rooted in classical Christianity, Liturgical and Spirit-filled, ancient, and contemporary, holy, and joyful. We express our spirituality through the use of revised Anglican, Roman and Eastern liturgical rites for worship.
• We are convinced that the faith and practice of the first one thousand years of the ancient church will engage our culture more effectively and provide a way forward in a time of almost unbelievable transition and change in the 21st century.
• We live to show forth God’s praise, not only with our lips but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to His service, and by walking before Him, in holiness and righteousness, all our days. We are committed to advancing God’s kingdom by proclaiming the Gospel to the least, the lost, and the lonely.
• The ICCEC is an autocephalous historic Christian church holding apostolic succession with canonical bodies in Europe, Africa, and United States. It has its own Patriarch, is administratively independent global Communion that elects its own primates and bishops and operates under an Anglican model of ecclesiastical orders. It has never been a part of, associated with, or split off any other church body. It is a new work of God!
Our Vision
The founding vision of the ICCEC states: We seek to bring the rich sacramental and liturgical life of the early church to searching evangelicals and charismatics as well as carrying the power of Pentecost to our brothers and sisters in the historical churches, all the while providing a home for all Christians who seek an expression of faith that is equally liturgical/catholic/sacramental, evangelical, and charismatic.