Church of England in South Africa

Not to be confused with Anglican Church of Southern Africa.

The Church of England in South Africa (CESA) was constituted in 1938 as a federation of churches. It is an Anglican church but it is not a member of the Anglican Communion. However, it relates closely to the Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia, to which it is similar in that it sees itself as a bastion of the Reformation and particularly of reformed doctrine. The Church canons allow for lay presidency at Holy Communion and also the use of grape juice instead of fermented wine. All references to baptismal regeneration and absolution have been eliminated from the denomination's alternative Prayer book, as has the word "Catholic" in the creeds. Although the CESA has been excluded from the Lambeth Conference, its ministerial orders are recognised by the Anglican Communion, and these orders derive from Bishop Fred Morris, a former Anglican missionary bishop in North Africa, who moved in 1955 to South Africa, much to the irritation of the then Archbishop of Canterbury. Several CESA clerics have served in the Church of England.

Its origins are among those congregations that did not join the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (now the Anglican Church of Southern Africa) when it was established in 1870. Holy Trinity Church, Cape Town formed a basis for subsequent expansion, giving rise to the CESA.

The CESA in 2009 was composed of just under 200 congregations, with a total of about 120,000 members. All churches contribute 10% of their income to a central fund. Christ Church, Midrand; Christ Church, Pinetown; and St James Church, Kenilworth all have memberships of several thousand, with attendances on Sunday morning services at about 1000. The average church size is about 150.

George Whitefield College (GWC), the official CESA theological training facility in Cape Town is modelled on Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia. The founding principal of GWC was Dr Broughton Knox; the current principal is Dr David Seccombe. Two other CESA colleges are the Johannesburg Bible College and the Kwazulu-Natal Missionary Bible College (formerly known as Trinity Academy) in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu

Presiding Bishops since 1955:

G. Frederick B. Morris 1955 to 1965
Stephen Carlton Bradley 1965 to 1984
Dudley Foord 1986 to 1989
Joe J. Bell 1989 to 2000
Frank J. Retief 2000 to 2010
Desmond Inglesby 2010 to present

References

• A Candle Burns in Africa - A.G. Ive
• The Rev. B.D. Cameron B.A. (Theol); Hons B. Theol.; M.Th. (University of South Africa) and based largely on a similar publication called "Why Two Churches" which was originally prepared for the Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (Publisher - Nasionale Boekhandel Beperk)
• Improving on Cranmer - Robert Ian Williams Mth (University of Wales), 2000. Ecclesia Press

This booklet looks at the theological differences in the alternative prayer books of the Church of England in South Africa and the Anglican Church of South Africa.

External links

• CESA history from their website