Conservative Priest Who Left ECUSA Expects to Go It Alone
by Jim Brown
November 6, 2003
(AgapePress) - The first Episcopal priest in the nation to resign over his denomination's approval of an openly homosexual bishop doubts other conservative rectors will follow his lead in the coming months.
Upon leaving St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in September, Maryland pastor Steven Randall started Emmaus Anglican Church, a congregation that is now attracting Episcopalians from as far as 35 miles away. Randall says he was surprised that more priests did not leave the Episcopal Church when he did, but believes many who have chosen to remain are doing so for financial -- not scriptural -- reasons.
"They would argue that they're staying [because] they want to continue to be a witness [and to] be the remnant ... crying out in the desert, saying 'Repent!'" Randall says. "I happen to believe that [things such as] the fact that [priests'] pensions are tied into the Episcopal Church [and] that their property is owned by the Episcopal Church ... often are the greater motivation."
Randall's parish has joined a conservative network of Anglicans under the leadership of an African bishop. He admits he was shocked other priests did not leave the Episcopal Church when its leaders approved the election of V. Gene Robinson, an open homosexual, as bishop of New Hampshire -- but says he is not expecting entire parishes to take action similar to that taken by his parish.
"So I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a tremendous movement, in terms of whole congregations," the pastor says. "We've got people from ... maybe seven, perhaps eight, different Episcopal churches now coming to ours. If we could do a few more things, we might even be able to double the size of that in just the next few weeks.
"There are a lot of people attending churches who are leaving those churches -- but it's not the whole congregations themselves."
Randall predicts leaders from the "Global South" -- a theologically conservative element of the worldwide Anglican Communion -- will soon take a cue from the Archbishop of Nigeria and disavow the Episcopal Church USA.
