The AIC in the UK.

Based on forward from the Most Rev John Rhodes, Archbishop of the Province of the UK
A historical examination of this Communion depicts that it is rooted in the teaching of the ancient Church enshrined in the Catholic Creeds, and the wisdom of all the Ecumenical Councils of the Christian Church, handed down by our forefathers.  Doctrines that since the Reformation, have been developed and amended to form what we term  either as “The Anglican Tradition,” or “Traditional Anglicanism.”

The Anglican Independent Communion started life in the United States of America, at a time when the old and stable Church of England embarked on its present course of Liberalisation.  Unhappy with the changes to its liturgy, and the movement towards the ordination of women. Many clergy were dismayed and dissatisfied with the direction in which the C of E was heading.

A group of like-minded clergy broke away from the parent Church, and out of this movement the AIC was born.   This branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion was introduced to the UK by Bishop Norman Dutton, who formed the first Diocese of the AIC in these islands. Later Bishop Dutton was consecrated Archbishop; and the Diocese of the United Kingdom became a Province. The Province was divided into four Dioceses, each with its own Bishop;  and at about the same time, Archbishop Dutton was also appointed the Metropolitan of the Anglican Independent Communion Worldwide.  A position that he held for several years.

Upon Metropolitan Archbishop Dutton’s retirement in 2007ad, Bishop John Rhodes CJ. was elected, and enthroned the new Archbishop in the UK Province.  The workload in this fast growing Communion required that the responsibilities of Archbishop in the UK, and Metropolitan of the Worldwide Communion be separated.  
By the unanimous agreement of the Archbishops’ Camera;  Arzobispo Patricio Viveros Robles, (Archbishop of AIC Chile) was appointed Metropolitan of the Communion that year.

Although the Communion is not yet represented in all countries, It is well established in Britain, Latin America, Australia, India, and in several countries on the African Continent; some of which have very large congregations, and elsewhere in remote locations there may be just a handful of committed worshippers meeting in very primitive conditions. The Communion is healthy, vigorous, and thriving, and continues to grow worldwide;  appealing as it does, to a wide range of churchmanship and practice.

  Anglican worship liturgy is authorised for use in our services (BCP, ASB, CW.)   Recommended Biblical translations are: ( KJ. NKJ & KJ-M.edn. NEB. RSV, & NIV.)

The UKAIC has its own ecumenical Theological, and Clergy Training College. This correspondence College shares its own unique curriculum with the two other colleges in the Communion; one of which is in Latin America, and the other in India.

The governance of the UKAIC is a shared responsibility by the College of its Bishops, presided over by its Archbishop.  It is Trinitarian, and respects the 39 Articles of Religion (of the Church of England). Its Bishops enjoy a proven Historic Apostolic Succession. We hold to the Holy orders of Bishops, Priest, and Deacons, in accordance with the teachings of Holy Scripture,  and insist that those who hold these orders, must be men of high moral character, and have a clear, biblically grounded, appropriately attested and Spiritual vocation.

Much could be said here about doctrine, but for this basic introduction to what we are about, we want to emphasise that all are welcome to our church, regardless of gender, age, sexuality, if they are divorced, nationality, ethnic group, disability, their past , their social status, education, or any other matter of equality.  At the top of our doctrinal statement must be the love of Christ and we are called to love everyone, without discrimination.  Please see our section on beliefs for more information on the canons (laws and rules) and doctrine (what we believe).

Those wishing to apply for a ministry position such as ordination, or incardination (i.e. those ordained in another church who want to transfer) into this Communion, will be required to provide satisfactory character references, and proof of a sound education. They must also be prepared to devote sufficient time to study for an acceptable theological diploma; (should that be required.)  There will be an appropriate selection process.  Each must also pass an Enhanced CRB Disclosure.  We have a robust safe-guarding policy for vulnerable adults and for children and young people.  Please see section on Ministry for further details

The UKAIC is a living Church.  Its ministers are expected to be active in all aspects of pastoral and priestly ministry, involving themselves with the public, and building worshipping congregations; all under the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God, and the discipline of a rigorous daily prayer routine.


Whilst this exciting church has grown 'like wild-fire' in the 13 years it has existed, it is still in a fairly embryonic phase.  In this country, we do not yet have the financial resources to employ our clergy, so all 'staff' are self-supporting.  If you wish to find a minister near you and/or find out about joining the Anglican Independent Communion, please go to the 'Whose who' section

The AIC stands for truth and faith

The power of our faith is in truth.  If it is not true, it is worth nothing, if it has truth, if it has the truth of God, then it is empowered by God.  Too often churches have followed their own agenda, sold-out to the concerns and agendas of the culture and time in which they live and rejected the truths of scripture to conform the faith to their views.  This needs to stop.  The AIC is to stand up for biblical truth in a country where it is greatly ignored, even by the church.  We want to teach a pure gospel, back-to-basics faith that is mature enough to see and understand the biases inherent in us and take an objective view (and not solely subjective) of reading scripture.  This means starting with the bible and reading the culture in which we live, politics, decision making, doctrine, how we share the gospel, how we do church, what defines us, in light of that bible.  Not, as is far to common place in our national church, start with what we want and try to make the bible and therefore God, conform to our agenda, desires and opinions.  I guess it really goes to the heart of the Christian message itself – submission to God.  That when we become Christians we must accept his Lordship over our lives, submit to him as supreme ruler and follow Him and His way, not our own.  Its about saying that God knows better and laying aside the proud, arrogant heart that wants to say or act like we know better; this fosters sin and un-truths.  The church in England is greatly under attack from those who want to tear away pages of the bible and conform God to their ‘isms’.  There are so many ‘isms’ we Christians can believe in, but we should start with the bible and our faith in God and all views should be conformed to that, not the other way round.  Many Christians will have other agendas, but these should be viewed as secondary and subject to faith, not the agendas defining our faith – this is pivotally important.  I raise this here as key to our identity, because the church here and in many parts of the world, is under attack from the rampant liberalism that aggressively dominates our faith.  At the heart of this is not a Christian attitude, but one that allows us to define our own path, it’s a ‘no rules’ philosophy that denies that there is absolute truth and says ‘everyone’s view is equally valid’.  But we are not here to teach and uphold our own views, we are here to point to Christ and to the truth of scripture and the creeds and the faith of the early church fathers.  Liberalism at its heart, allows the adherent to deny the rules of scripture and make their own choices.  The bible is not a ‘pick-and-mix’ counter!  At the heart of a Christian must be an attitude that accepts what God teaches and repents of wrongdoing.  But liberalism allows people to deny that things are wrong and simply lower the moral standards to a level, in the area concerned, that allows them to not see it as sin at all.  We are all strong in some areas and weak in others.  If we only believe in the faith, the bible, the teaching of the church, when it suits us and does not confront our weaknesses, then this is not faith.  This is why liberalism is too often an enemy of the faith (not always, I am not saying every liberal is an agent of Satan here!!!).  This makes it heart to hold liberalising views in a fashion that they are dominant over scripture and in our way of reading scripture, and still be a Christian.  There are many, the Lord says, who will call him “Lord, Lord” and he will say to them “I don’t even know you”.  There are many in churches in this country who don’t know God because there are many churches that do not preach the gospel.  I have heard many such sermons, which are little more than liberal moralising and have little to do with Christianity.  We must delve into the Word of God and allow it to shape out life and our church.   This is at the heart of the AIC.  Those of us who are members are here because truth matters.  Sadly the C of E, like several parts of Anglicanism, has thrown out the possibility of a uniting faith, because it cannot have one understanding of truth, but many.  The mantra is inclusivity, but its at the cost of truth because many views are conflicting.  Take for example, I was shown by a student at vicar-school once a statistic that over 60% of female clergy in the C of E do not believe in a literal and bodily resurrection.  Well, as Paul makes clear in his first letter to the Corinthians, without resurrection, there is no faith.  It is the power of Christianity.  We believe in a God who overcame the grave and gives eternal life.  If the perfect cannot be resurrected, how can we?  But how can the C of E exist with such division?  There are many good pockets in the C of E and many churches doing great work.  If you ask the clergy of the growing churches (which are always those (genuinely) evangelical churches that stand for truth as well) about this statistic, they would say the same:  this is not Christianity.  Its become a church that allows any belief.  If we have no boundaries to our faith, how can we define what it is?  We can’t!  its as simple as that.  So its very sad to have to break away, but our consciences compelled many of us to do so (whilst a few have joined for other reasons too of course).  If you look throughout the church, it has always been those that teach the truth that grow – churches that do not teach the truth, do not grow.  This is why in this country the growth, the life, the financial strength, is in the evangelical churches.  

it is also noteworthy here, that there is a massive crisis within evangelicalism in this country, which faces the liberal threat from within and has members that want to redefine what evangelicalism is to include their views so they, like I have here, can claim to be biblical.  I have heard many who wish to do so, who deny clear teaching of the bible, when it doesn’t fit with their agenda and simply deny its truths by saying “its all a matter of interpretation”.  They also say that the “bible is not black and white”.  But its our sinfulness that makes grey bits.  Often very clear, absolutely unequivocal and completely unambiguous under the excuse "its a matter of interpretation".  This is because too many want to approach the faith through the skew inherent in us by the age we have grown up in, our psychology, our experiences, our culture, our politics and the philosophical norms we are indoctrinated with by the society in which we grow up.  For example, in parts of Ghana, there is great debates on polygamy and is it acceptable, yet it would never be questioned in this country.  In this country we have debates on whether we should have women bishops, in many parts of Africa such debates would not even arise... we are children of our culture and time and we need to mature as churches to understand that, see our bias and weaknesses and combat them.  Here in the AIC we want to be something of solidity in a fleeting and changing world.  We know, that to be a church with something attractive to offer, we must be rooted in Christ.  This means that the traditions of the church are important to us, we don't want to throw out 2 thousands years of learning together, we want to celebrate the fact we walk the same path that billions of other Christians have done; we also what to submit our lives to the scriptures, not deny the bits that do not suit; and we want to be united by clear teaching, united in Christ, in truth, in one baptism.  
We await the results of the newest survey, but the last national survey in the UK showed over 70% of people called themselves Christian.  Most in the church will expect that to be a little less 10 years later, but probably not much.  And yet only about 5% of people go to church regularly.  Why is this?  The fact that there is around 68% of people in the country who call themselves Christian but are not members or regularly attend a church, show that we have all failed.  The church has failed to do its work, its mission, in this country.  The AIC is something new, that was created because of the failings of the church, but doesn't want to be bogged down by politics and ecclesiology.  We want to take the gospel of our Lord to all corners of this country and globally.  We want to be a relevant church rooted in truth.  We want to offer something that is provocative, attractive, exciting, enticing... but also something with stability, that you can trust to be biblical and to always aim to stay biblical, united, uncorrupt and to put the gospel first and foremost.  No church is perfect, but we strive towards such things.  Sadly, in this country you cannot walk into any church and trust it will teach the gospel or be grounded in truth.  I have worked in ministry with those who don't believe in the resurrection, the virgin birth, that the bible is the Word of God, that Jesus is divine, or that we can only be saved through Christ.  This is not Christianity!  These beliefs mean their adherents have more in common with non-Christian groups like Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons, or indeed Islam, who also believe Jesus was a man of God but not divine.  We cannot go on like this!!!  We WILL stand up for our gospel in this country!  We WILL stand up for our church!  And the AIC is somewhere where those who believe in this are coming together in this exciting organisation, which has grown from 0 to over 80,000,000 members worldwide, in 13 years!  We hope you too would like to be part of this.  If you do, you could start by contacting a local clergy person who can talk more with you on these matters.


I'd also like to add a note about how we practice church.  There are some important points to be made on this matter.  

One of the main reason why people wanted to break from the Anglican church was the increasingly inappropriate practices for administering communion, which is/was being done in a manner lacking due respect and consideration.   You can find out more about this in our 'theology' section.