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The Free Church of England (FCE) is an episcopal Church based in England. The Church was founded when a number of congregations separated from the established Church of England in the middle of the 19th century.〔Richard D. Fenwick, ''The Free Church of England otherwise called the Reformed Episcopal Church c.1845 to c.1927'', PhD thesis, University of Wales, 1995.〕 The doctrinal basis of the FCE, together with its episcopal structures, organisation, worship, ministry and ethos are recognisably ‘Anglican’ although it is not a member of the Anglican Communion. Worship style follows that of the Book of Common Prayer or conservative modern-language forms that belong to the Anglican tradition. The Church of England acknowledges the FCE as a Church with valid Orders and its Canons permit a range of shared liturgical and ministerial activities. ==History== The Free Church of England was founded principally by Evangelical or Low Church clergy and congregations in response to what were perceived as attempts (inspired by the Oxford Movement) to re-introduce Tridentine Roman Catholic dogmas and practices into the Established Church. The first congregations were formed in 1844. In the early years ministers were often provided by the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion which had its origins in the 18th century Evangelical Revival and by the middle of the 19th century still retained many Anglican features such as the use of the surplice and Book of Common Prayer.〔John Fenwick, ''The Free Church of England: Introduction to an Anglican Tradition'', London, Continuum, 2004, pp. 9-33.〕 In 1863 the annual conference of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion created a constitution for the new congregations under the title ''The Free Church of England'' (though the name had been in use since the 1840s). The constitution made provision for the creation of dioceses, each to be under the oversight of a bishop. The first bishop was Benjamin Price, who initially had oversight of all the new congregations. In 1874 the FCE made contact with the newly organised Reformed Episcopal Church in North America.〔Allen C. Guelzo, ''For the Union of Evangelical Christendom: The Irony of the Reformed Episcopalians'', Pennsylvania, State University Press, 1994, pp. 224-227.〕 The founding bishop of the REC, George David Cummins, had been strongly influenced by William Augustus Muhlenberg, who advocated 'Evangelical Catholicism' as a means of combining the best of both the Evangelical and Catholic traditions. In 1876 an REC bishop from Canada, Edward Cridge, came to the United Kingdom and consecrated Benjamin Price and John Sugden in the historic succession. The following year a branch of the REC was founded in the UK. The two churches lived in parallel until 1927, when the Free Church of England united with the UK branch of the Reformed Episcopal Church. The full name of the united Church since 1927 is: ''The Free Church of England, otherwise called the Reformed Episcopal Church in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland''.〔http://www.fcofe.org.uk/about_the_free_church_of_england.htm〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Free Church of England」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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