Convergence Movement

In 1973, Campus Crusade for Christ missionary Peter E. Gillquist (1938–2012) of Chicago established a network of house churches throughout the United States of America, aiming to restore a primitive form of Christianity, which was called the New Covenant Apostolic Order. Researching Christian history, Gillquist and his colleagues found sources for this restoration in the writings of the early Church Fathers. This led the New Covenant Apostolic Order to practice a more liturgical form of worship than in their previous evangelical background. In 1977, "The Chicago Call" was issued by the National Conference of Evangelicals for Historic Christianity, meeting in Warrenville, Illinois. Led by Robert E. Webber (Assoc. Professor of Theology at Wheaton College), along with Peter Gillquist, Thomas Howard, Richard Holt, Donald Bloesch, Jan Dennis, Lane Dennis, and Victor Oliver, the conference discussed the need for evangelical Protestants to rediscover and re-attach to the Christian Church's historic roots. The conference issued several documents which together are known as "The Chicago Call." Components of the document include: "A Call to Historic Roots and Continuity; A Call to Biblical Fidelity; A Call to Creedal Identity; A Call to Holistic Salvation; A Call to Sacramental Integrity; A Call to Spirituality; A Call to Church Authority; and A Call to Church Unity." The belief of needing apostolic succession and the historic episcopacy led most members of Evangelical Orthodoxy to join the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America in 1987. Others later joined the Orthodox Church in America. In 1984 Charisma magazine—one of the most influential magazines of the Charismatic Movement—published an article by Richard Lovelace entitled, "The Three Streams, One River?" (Sept 1984). Lovelace approvingly noted the trend of Catholics, Evangelicals, and Charismatic and Pentecostal Christians moving closer together. Robert Webber's 1985 book—Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail: Why Evangelicals are Attracted to the Liturgical Church—documented the stories of six evangelical Protestants who, for various reasons, had transitioned to the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. Publication of this book stirred up a great deal of interest in the evangelical Protestant press, generating numerous reviews in Christianity Today and other widely read evangelical publications. == Development ==

of the Charismatic Episcopal Church, leading worship in 1994 In June 1992, the Charismatic Episcopal Church was established as a part of the Convergence Movement following the episcopal ordination of Randy Adler by Herman Adrian Spruit of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch—an Independent Catholic jurisdiction embracing religious pluralism. By 2007, former Charismatic Episcopal Archbishop Randolph Sly joined the Catholic Church and was ordained into the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, broadening recognition of the Convergence Movement among the ancient liturgical Christian denominations. In 1995, the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches was organized. In October 1995, approximately 300 individuals gathered from multiple denominational backgrounds; various bishops from Anglican, independent Eastern Orthodox and Old Catholic churches assisted in the episcopal ordination of the denomination's first two bishops, and the ordination of 25 pastors and seven deacons. Between the late 1990s and early 2000s, Timothy Paul Baymon was consecrated by Peter Paul Brennan and others; and he and established the Holy Communion of Churches, where he was likewise elevated as their archbishop. of the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches In 2011, Evangelical Episcopal Bishop Derek Jones was received by the Convocation of Anglicans in North America into the Anglican Church in North America. By March 2012, under the leadership of Quintin Moore, the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches entered full communion with his Christian Communion International as the denomination's United States province. From 2008–2014, the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches held informal ecumenical dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church through Bishop Tony Palmer. During an audience with Pope Francis, Palmer and Bishop Emilio Alvarez represented their denomination; Alvarez was the official translator for the meeting. Palmer continued to serve in papal audiences until his death, befriending Pope Francis. Palmer's death was initially disclosed by Archbishop Charles Hill of Ambassadors for Christ Ministries of America, whom he also befriended and was a member of the same communion. Hill also served as "Apostle Primate Patriarch Archbishop" within the Patriarchate in the World of Jesus Christ, an independent Eastern Orthodox group. Archbishop Hill would later lead a Charismatic Liberal Catholic denomination named the Ancient Church Global, claiming descent from the Knights Templar and self-proclaiming themselves the sole source of Independent, Old and Liberal Catholicism. This denomination led by Hill upon their departure from the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches also uniquely claimed to hold apostolic succession and continuity with Ancient Egyptian polytheistic religious practices; their additional claims to succession and the historic episcopate stemmed from various wandering bishops within Independent and Old Catholicism, the American Orthodox Catholic Church, Anglicanism, and Gnosticism. In May 2023, a religious university founded by Hill for their Charismatic denomination conferred an honorary degree upon Liberian politician Matthew Zarzar. In 2019, the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches split, and the Continuing Evangelical Episcopal Communion was founded. Alvarez also either left the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches by resignation or deposition, and organized the Union of Charismatic Orthodox Churches; by October 2020, he was elected to lead the denomination as its primate and in 2021 was installed as archbishop and primate for the denomination. In December 2020, leadership of the Union of Charismatic Orthodox Churches met with Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (Ecumenical Patriarchate). Alvarez and the Convergence Movement were featured by Religion News Service, after a trend of young Christians returning to traditional churches. In 2019, the Apostolic Communion of Anglican Churches—founded in 2005 through the principles of the Convergence Movement—received the former Anglican Church in North America priest Jack Lumanog. Joining this denomination, Lumanog was declared to have no ecclesiastical status through any province of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans following his election and ordination to the episcopacy by Archbishop Darel Chase. Chase also ordained a claimant to the Roman papacy, and organized the National Bible College Association accreditation mill which accredited their self-established Metropolitan Christian University and Midwestern School of Divinity for their churches. Following Lumanog's episcopal ordination and the formation of the Anglican Diocese of St. Ignatius Loyola, in 2020, Gideon Arinzechukwu Uzomechina was appointed interim archdeacon for this diocese in the Apostolic Communion of Anglican Churches. Uzomechina was a deposed Episcopalian priest accused of fraud and sexual misconduct with young men. In December 2022, Uzomechina and his church were publicly disowned by the Church of Nigeria to prevent alleged misrepresentation. In 2022, Archbishop Sterling Lands II of the Evangelical Episcopal Communion—once part of the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches—and Archbishop Deng Dau Deng, former archbishop-elect of the Anglican Church of South Sudan, joined the African Episcopal Church organized and led by Chase. By 2023 Jonathan Kyangasha—an expelled Church of Uganda priest—joined the African Episcopal Church. Kyangasha founded the Reformed Anglican Church in Uganda after his expulsion in 2017. A year later, Lumanog joined the African Episcopal Church's house of bishops, and a lawsuit by Uzomechina against the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey alleging discrimination and wrongful deposition was dismissed. == Holy orders and sacraments ==

Since the advent of Convergence Christianity, numerous denominations and organizations have sought or claimed apostolic succession through excommunicated Latin Catholic bishops and wandering bishops of Anglican and Orthodox traditions including Carlos Duarte Costa, Arnold Mathew, Joseph Vilatte, Aftimios Ofiesh, and others in order to preserve doctrinal and apostolic continuity and establish sacramental legitimacy. Roman Catholicism According to Roman Catholic teaching, such ordinations—even if performed by excommunicated, deposed, and laicized bishops—are "valid but illicit." The Code of Canon Law within the Roman Catholic Church states Latin and Eastern Catholic bishops are able to ordain in holy orders, yet ordinations without authorization are deemed illicit and result in automatic excommunication (and for some, laicization, i.e., Emmanuel Milingo). There is also an understanding through Roman Catholic teaching on sacramental character; dogma teaches those performing unauthorized ceremonies cannot have their holy orders or episcopal genealogy (apostolic succession) nullified, vacated or revoked though their use of the sacraments go unrecognized among those in communion with the Pope of Rome, as they have only been relieved of episcopal duties within the Latin Catholic Church and its Eastern Catholic Churches specifically. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992), §1121 expresses: Eastern Orthodoxy From mainstream Eastern Orthodox teaching no holy orders outside of their churches are generally recognized considering a strict adherence to the letter of the law (see also: legalism), although some mainstream Eastern Orthodox churches may consider outside holy orders as valid and forgo conditional ordinations via divine economy. • Oriental Orthodox • Roman Catholic • Old Catholic • Moravian • Lutheran • Anglican • Methodist (except the Salvation Army) • United Church of Christ • Presbyterian • Baptist • Church of the Brethren • Assemblies of God This is also because each autocephalous church determines the validity of another Christian church's holy orders and other sacraments, according to a joint Eastern Orthodox-Roman Catholic ordination committee in 1988. In the 20th century, specifically, there have even been bishops elevated by and descending from Aftimios Ofiesh of the American Orthodox Catholic Church, which were brought into the mainstream Eastern Orthodox churches without reordination (e.g., bishops Joseph Zuk and Alexander Turner). Anglicanism In Anglicanism, similar to Roman Catholic theology, it is taught "once a bishop, always a bishop." Anglicanism also teaches the permanent effect of sacramental character; the 39 Articles of Religion teaches unworthy ministers are still able to validly confect the sacraments, even if under canonical discipline. According to An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, which has been published by American Episcopalians: Within the Church of England, its canons teach that even if voluntarily relinquishing the office or position, or being deprived from the exercise of the same, "no person who has been admitted to the order of bishop, priest, or deacon can ever be divested of the character of his order." == Statistics ==

Through the establishment of multiple denominations in the Convergence Movement, more than 6.7 million individuals have been claimed as adherents of its multiple organizations. According to self-reported statistics in 2020, the largest denomination in the movement was the Holy Communion of Churches with 4.6 million members in 700 churches. The third-largest denomination was the Evangelical Episcopal Communion, claiming to have planted more than 5,000 churches through its Province of St. Peter; and over 100 churches and ministries altogether through Missio Mosaic and the Province of India. Following, the Charismatic Episcopal Church with more than 1,600 churches as of 2008, and almost 2,000 as of 2014, was the movement's fourth-largest. The Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches had 150+ churches and ministries through its provinces and U.S. dioceses. and the Union of Charismatic Orthodox Churches had an estimated 24 churches as of 2020. ==Denominations==

The following is not a complete list, but aims to provide a comprehensible overview of the diversity among denominations of Convergence Christianity. Only organizations with Wikipedia articles will be listed. • Apostolic Pastoral Congress • Charismatic Episcopal Church • Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches • Confessing Anglican Church • Evangelical Episcopal Communion • Union of Charismatic Orthodox Churches ==See also==