{"id":14165,"date":"2025-12-29T06:15:40","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T06:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=14165"},"modified":"2025-12-29T06:15:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T06:15:40","slug":"embattled-anglican-chaplains-group-forms-new-denomination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=14165","title":{"rendered":"Embattled Anglican chaplains group forms new denomination"},"content":{"rendered":"


By Michael Gryboski, Editor Friday, December 26, 2025<\/span><\/a>The Rt. Rev. Derek Jones, bishop of the Anglican Church in North America’s Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy, gives a speech in March 2025. <\/span> | YouTube\/Saint Luke’s Anglican, Hilton Head Island <\/span><\/p>\n

A chaplains group facing a legal battle with the Anglican Church in North America has launched a new denomination known as the Anglican Reformed Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

Bishops with the Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy recently established the ARCC, with it being officially incorporated in Alabama as a new nonprofit organization.<\/p>\n

JAFC Bishop Derek Jones will serve as the leader of the new denomination, according to Virtue Online. The group’s leaders are calling ARCC \u201cclassic Anglican.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live in the tradition and prayer book expression we have all known and loved in the JAFC for nearly 20 years,\u201d they told Virtue Online.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is Reformed and Catholic as Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, Bishop John Jewel, Bishop Lancelot Andrewes, and other Anglican reformers envisioned \u2014 ancient in faithfulness to the witness of the Apostles and formulated in the ancient Creeds and Councils.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the ARCC website, which was accessed by The Christian Post on Friday and is still identified as being \u201cunder careful construction,\u201d the new denomination \u201cexists to provide a stable ecclesiastical home for those who love Anglican tradition but seek clear accountability, uncompromised doctrinal standards, and a deep connection to the broader catholic Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ARCC lists three dioceses: The Anglican Diocese of Saint Andrew, which covers the western United States; The Anglican Diocese of Saint Martin Tours, which covers the eastern United States; and the JAFC.<\/p>\n

ARCC’s launch comes as its leadership is in a legal dispute with the ACNA over which party owns the JAFC, established in 2014 as the endorsing agency for Anglican chaplains.<\/p>\n

In September, ACNA Archbishop Steve Wood wrote a\u00a0letter alleging that, beginning in the summer, the denomination’s leadership \u201creceived credible complaints regarding Bishop Derek Jones, alleging abuse of ecclesiastical power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese complaints did not involve physical or sexual misconduct, nor did they involve any doctrinal concerns,\u201d wrote Wood. \u201cNevertheless, they were concerning because abuse of ecclesiastical power violates the trust that is essential for effective ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n

JAFC disputed the accusations and the investigation, claiming that Jones was the victim of \u201ca targeted attack\u201d by Wood because he had \u201cbeen critical of errors, missteps, and mismanagement within the Archbishop’s office.\u201d<\/p>\n

JAFC Chairman David van Esselstyn sent a\u00a0letter\u00a0to Wood in September stating that the chaplains group was terminating its relationship with ACNA and demanding that the denomination quit using its trademark.<\/p>\n

ACNA refused to recognize the JAFC disaffiliation, instead\u00a0appointing new leadership\u00a0for the group. In response, JAFC filed a\u00a0complaint\u00a0in October in district court against ACNA.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit claimed ACNA was enacting \u201ca failed corporate takeover\u201d of JAFC when it attempted \u201cto suspend Plaintiff\u2019s corporate president\u201d and assume their responsibilities.<\/p>\n

In November, United States District Judge Bruce Hendricks of the District of South Carolina, Charleston Division,\u00a0issued an order\u00a0partly granting JAFC\u2019s request for a temporary restraining order against ACNA.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, ACNA Board of Inquiry charged Jones with four alleged violations of canon law: \u201cRefusal to follow a Godly Admonition,\u201d \u201cDisobedience to, or willful contravention of the Canons of the Church,\u201d \u201cconduct giving cause for scandal or offense, including the abuse of ecclesiastical power\u201d and having \u201cpromoted and caused schism within this Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Court for the Trial of a Bishop will determine the next steps, according to\u00a0Anglican Ink, with the possibility that Jones could be tried in absentia if he refuses to participate in the proceedings.<\/p>\n

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