The Continuing Anglican movement refers to a number of conservative parishes which split from the Episcopal Church in the USA, which is the American branch of the Anglican denomination of Christianity.
The immediate reason for the split centered around two controversies during the 1970s: The decision of the Episcopal Church to ordain women, and the adoption of a new Book of Common Prayer, which is the basic book of worship services for the Episcopal Church, in 1979
These conservative parishes formed several small splinter denominations which typically hold to a rejection of the ordination of women, and to contuined use of the 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer.
The actual birth of the Continuing Anglican movement took place at a meeting of conservative Episcopalian clergy in St. Louis, Missouri, in September, 1977. Out of this meeting came a statement called the Affirmation of St. Louis, as well as a new denomination, the Anglican Church in North America. Other small splinter denominations identified with the Continuing Anglican movement followed as the controversies continued over the ordination of women, the adoption of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, and more recently, over the acceptance of homosexuality within the Episcopal Church.
Among the many denominations identified with the Continuing Anglican movement are the American Anglican Church, the Anglican Catholic Church, the Anglican Church in America, the Anglican Episcopal Church, the Anglican Province of Christ the King, the Evangelical Anglican Church of America, the Southern Episcopal Church, and the United Episcopal Church of North America.
Some other denominations which split from the Episcopal Church are not considered part of the Continuing Anglican movement, such as the Reformed Episcopal Church which was formed in 1874 and holds to a more distinctly Protestant theology and worship style than does the Episcopal Church; and the Charismatic Episcopal Church, which holds to a belief in Pentecostal gifts of the Holy Spirit.
