Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: How many members does the Reformed Episcopal Church have?
In 2009, the REC became a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA),[26] a denomination seeking to create a new Anglican Communion province distinct from the Episcopal Church. ACNA is in communion with the Anglican Churches of Uganda, Nigeria and Sudan, with approximately 30 million members worldwide, representing approximately one-third of the faithful of the Anglican Communion.[27][28][29]
A member of the Diocese of the Central States is "Covenant Reformed Episcopal Church", a historic Reformed Episcopal church and rectory located at Roanoke, Virginia. 
The Covenant Church is across the street from the historic Starkey School, and "Covenant Reformed Episcopal Church is located in the Cave Spring area of southwest Roanoke County." Covenant Church is part of a founding jurisdiction of the Anglican Church in North America
The current church building was built between 1920-1921, and is a plain wooden church on a stone foundation in the austere Protestant style. There are few permanent decorations in the church, and no stained glass windows. The brass Candelabra and other fixtures are in the Colonial Williamsburg style. Also located on the property is a rectory built in 1945. An earlier Reformed Episcopal Church, Providence Reformed Episcopal Church, transferred all care of property and title to the daughter Covenant Church on March 1, 1984.The vestry of Covenant Church both supported and encouraged the writings of Allen C. Guelzo in his book, "For the Union of Evangelical Christendom: The Irony of the Reformed Episcopalians".
In 1877, in response to a petition from REC sympathizers in England, the REC's Fifth General Council acted to establish the Reformed Episcopal Church in that country.[18] Former Church of England minister Thomas Huband Gregg was consecrated a bishop to lead adherents there. By 1910 there were 28 ministers and 1,990 communicant members constituting the Reformed Episcopal Church in that country.[19] In 1927, the Reformed Episcopal Church in England merged with the Free Church of England.[20]
In 1873, after Bishop George David Cummins had left the Protestant Episcopal Church to establish the Reformed Episcopal Church, a "New York Herald" reporter “cajoled” a “flustered and reluctant” Potter out of his sickroom. The reporter asked how much the “Reformed Episcopal” movement would affect the Protestant Episcopal Church. Potter answered, “No more, Sir, than a mosquito bite would affect the stonewall of the reservoir on Fifth Avenue.”
Formed in opposition to the Episcopal Church's policies concerning gays, lesbians, and bisexuals are several other Anglican church bodies. The Anglican Mission in the Americas was founded in 2000 by the Anglican Communion's Rwandan and Southeast Asia provinces to serve North American Anglicans formerly affiliated with the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada; it claims more than 100 parishes in the United States. A church-planting partner with the Anglican Mission is the Anglican Church in North America, founded in 2010. It claims over 600 parishes serving 100,000 members, most of whom are former members of the Episcopal Church opposed to the ordination of LGBT clergy. The Anglican Church in North America includes four dioceses which withdrew from the Episcopal Church and subsequently joined with the 13,000 member Reformed Episcopal Church and several smaller bodies.
20 June 1869 – Church members voted to withdraw from the Episcopal Church and formed themselves as a Congregational Church but continued to worship using the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. This decision was related to their rector's attraction to the theology and doctrine of Bishop Cummings (An Episcopalian who would go on to create the Reformed Episcopal Church in 1873).
Bishop Riches was born in Philadelphia. He was baptized at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church as a child and later joined the Reformed Episcopal Church with his family in 1946, when they entered the Memorial Church of Our Redeemer in his home city. The Riches family later joined Calvary Reformed Episcopal Church in Philadelphia under the pastorate of William H. S. Jerdan, who also went on to become a Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church. Riches graduated "cum laude" at Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature in 1961. He earned his Master of Divinity degree from the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Episcopal Church, otherwise known as the Reformed Episcopal Seminary, in 1964. He continued advanced graduate work at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, completing all the course work toward an STM. He then devoted his time to pastoral ministry and teaching at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary at the request of Robert K. Rudolph. Riches was awarded honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees by the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in 1976 and by Cranmer Theological House in 1997.
Hicks is married to Lisa Hicks. They have three grown children.Hicks was born in Salem, New Jersey and was baptised at Salem United Presbyterian Church. "He was raised in a Christian family, and from the that he could read, he evidenced a deep love of the Scriptures" where he "dedicated himself" studying Scriptures in their original languages seeking to teach at either Bible College or a Seminary. In 1986, G. P. Mellick Belshaw, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese (PECUSA; now TEC) confirmed Hicks at Trinity Episcopal Church located in Swedesboro, New Jersey. Hicks joined the Reformed Episcopal Church in 1990, joining Providence Chapel Reformed Episcopal Church in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. He was ordained as a deacon by Bishop Leonard W. Riches at Saint Paul’s Reformed Episcopal, in Oreland, Pennsylvania. In 1994, Hicks was ordained as a Priest at Christ Reformed Episcopal Church, in Swedesboro, NJ. Hicks served as the Vicar and then Rector of Christ Church for four years.
The seminary trains clergy candidates for the Reformed Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church in North America, and churches of many other traditions. Clergy are educated in a belief in the primacy and final authority of the Bible and educated about the sacraments, creeds, councils, and the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion.
Some in the Protestant Episcopal Church saw Cummins' decision as schismatic. Others, however, disagreed. One correspondent of the publication "The Episcopalian" said, "If we say that this new church has begun in schism, the church of Rome alleges the same things against us. The real question is, which party is guilty of the schism, the party which separates and goes out? or the party that forces the separation, by making binding on the conscience what Christ has not made binding?" [10] Rather than characterize this as schism, Bishop Cummins and his fellow reformers portrayed themselves as providing a Protestant, Anglican identity under which there could be a 'closer union of all Evangelical Christendom.' "The Reformed Episcopal Church would be what the Protestant Episcopal Church might have become had it not been paralyzed by the Tractarian virus."[11] The term "Reformed" was never intended to denote any Calvinistic sense of Reformed theology, but was intended to convey Cummins' purpose of an Episcopal Church that had been reformed against Catholic influences [it should be noted that the founders of the church would often stylise the name as The Re-Formed Episcopal Church, for disambiguation so that it was known this was the Episcopal Church Re-Formed and not of a reformed theology]. Bishop Cummins was in attendance at a Convention on 21 October 1868 and was greatly disappointed by the "Catholic" practices which he witnessed: "[a]ltars erected, with super-altars, with burning candles, and floating clouds of incense; the communion service set in a Roman framework ... there is a departure from the doctrinal basis of the Reformation."[12] Cummins' feelings grew stronger after reading an essay titled "Are There Romanising Germs in the Prayer Book?" which asserted that the Romanisation of the church and the Holy Eucharistic service was not an influence from the outside but, rather came from inside the church - it was in the Prayer Book itself, thus; Cummins started pushing stronger against the "Roman germs" which sadly, caused him to lose friends on both sides: Anglo-Catholics and Evangelicals alike.[13]
The Episcopal Church (USA), part of the 80-million-member Anglican Communion, does not have an official position on the validity of Mormon baptism; however, most traditional clergy would not accept Mormon baptism and require the baptism of Mormons entering into the Episcopal Church. Retired bishop Carolyn Tanner Irish of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah was baptized into the LDS Church at the age of 8, her baptism was deemed valid upon her entering into the Episcopal Church in 1977, where she was confirmed by bishop of Washington, Rev. John T. Walker. As with the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church does not recognize Mormons as historic Apostolic Christians, but rather as a new and unique religious movement that is an offshoot of Christianity.
The Federation of Reformed Churches practices paedocommunion in all its churches as does some congregations within the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches. The Christian Reformed Church and the Reformed Episcopal Church, a conservative Anglican denomination, also are tolerant of the practice, and many conservative Presbyterians favor paedocommunion as well. In the Presbyterian Church in America, doctrinal acceptance of paedocommunion is tolerated though the practice itself is not allowed.
Cranmer's main purposes in giving official sanction to the Churches seem to have been two-fold. Firstly, they provided a glimpse of how a reformed Protestant Church might work in England, within the episcopal system which many of the "hotter" reformers wished to abolish. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, they helped Cranmer and his allies in the suppression of heretical strains of religion, such as the non-Trinitarian George van Parris, who was burned in 1551 with the assistance of John a Lasco (known in Poland as Jan Łaski).
The Theological Seminary of the Reformed Episcopal Church, otherwise known as Reformed Episcopal Seminary, is the largest and oldest of the seminaries of the Reformed Episcopal Church and is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools. It began offering classes in 1886 in West Philadelphia and was chartered in 1887. Now located in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, it offers Master of Divinity (MDiv), a Certificate in Bible and Theology, and a Licentiate in Diaconal or Deaconess Ministry.
Due to the death of Royal U. Grote Jr.,[2][3] the then current Vice President of the Reformed Episcopal Church, Ray Sutton became the Presiding Bishop of the REC. At the 55th General Council of the Reformed Episcopal Church in June 2017 in Dallas, Texas, USA, Sutton was elected to be the Presiding Bishop, and David L. Hicks, Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of the North East and Mid-Atlantic, was elected as Vice-President, of the Reformed Episcopal Church.
The Reformed Church of Hungary, and the Lutheran churches in continental Europe may sometimes be called "episcopal". In these latter cases, the form of government is not radically different from the presbyterian form, except that their councils of bishops have hierarchical jurisdiction over the local ruling bodies to a greater extent than in most Presbyterian and other Reformed churches. As mentioned, the Lutheran Church in Sweden and Finland are exceptions, claiming apostolic succession in a pattern somewhat like the Anglican churches. Otherwise, forms of polity are not mandated in the Lutheran churches, as it is not regarded as having doctrinal significance. Old World Lutheranism, for historical reasons, has tended to adopt Erastian theories of episcopal authority (by which church authority is to a limited extent sanctioned by secular government). In the United States, the Lutheran churches tend to adopt a form of government more comparable to congregationalism. A small minority of Episcopal Baptists exists. 
As of 2016, the REC reports 108 parishes and missions in the United States and three in Canada, and also has churches in Croatia, Cuba, Germany, and Serbia. In 2009, the Reformed Episcopal Church reported 13,600 members.
The founders of the Reformed Episcopal Church professed a faith rooted in the English Reformation, regarding the Holy Scripture as the Word of God, and accepting the authority of the Nicene, Apostles' and Athanasian Creeds, the first four ecumenical councils, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (in the form published in 1801 by the Protestant Episcopal Church), and the Declaration of Principles of the Reformed Episcopal Church.[38]
Within a year from the founding of the REC, like-minded Canadian Anglicans in New Brunswick and Ontario seceded from that Church and formed Reformed Episcopal congregations. In October 1874, Edward Cridge, dean of the Anglican cathedral in Victoria, British Columbia, withdrew with about 350 of his congregation to form the Church of Our Lord and join the Reformed Episcopal Church.[16] Cridge was consecrated a bishop for the REC in 1876.[17] Many of the Canadian Reformed Episcopal Churches joined the United Church at its founding. The Reformed Episcopal Church now has three churches in Canada, two in British Columbia and one in Ontario. St. George's Church, Hamilton is affiliated with the Diocese of the Northeast in the USA, and both Holy Trinity Church in Colwood and Living Word in Courtenay are a part of the Diocese of Western Canada and Alaska.
In contrast to the episcopal polity of the Anglican and many Lutheran and Methodist churches, continental Reformed churches are ruled by assemblies of "elders" or ordained officers. This is usually called Synodal government by the continental Reformed, but is essentially the same as presbyterian polity, with the elders forming the "consistory", the regional governing body known as the "classis", and the highest court of appeal being the "general synod".
The Reformed Church in Hungary, its sister church in Romania, the Hungarian Reformed Church in America, and the Polish Reformed Church are the only continental Reformed churches to have retained the office of bishop.
In December 1874, in a convention held in Pinopolis, with members of four parishes, after the rejection of four black men from the ministry by the Protestant Episcopal Church, it was decided to leave the Diocese of South Carolina and to seek membership with the newly created Reformed Episcopal Church. In the same convention, Frank Crawford Ferguson was elected President and wrote to the Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, George Cummins. In June 1875, he received a letter by Benjamin Johnson, explaining that he had been sent by the General Council of the REC to receive all the black people willing to join the denomination. The new body would be the Missionary Jurisdiction of the South, named Diocese of the Southeast when the division into dioceses was adopted in 1984.
The seminary was granted initial accreditation by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, effective August 8, 2013. The Theological Commission of the Reformed Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church in North America have also both approved the Reformed Episcopal Seminary.
The Reformed Anglican Church (formerly named the "Protestant Episcopal Church, USA") is a Reformed and episcopal church in the United States. It was founded as a split from the tiny Traditional Protestant Episcopal Church, now defunct. The church is strongly confessional, Reformed and evangelical.
It uses the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.
The church does not ordain women as bishops, presbyters, or deacons. In 2002, the denomination approved a canon that provides for the "setting apart" of qualified women as deaconesses who are not considered by the church to be ordained. While they are not considered ordained they do have important functions within the ministry of the church. Canon 22 states, "The duty of the Deaconess is to assist the Minister in the care of the poor and sick, the religious training of the young and others, and the work of moral reformation." Deaconesses in the Reformed Episcopal Church may have liturgical responsibilities; however they do not have eucharistic responsibilities beyond that allowed to any other member of the laity.[38][50] Some conservative Anglicans, especially those within the Continuing Anglican churches, have criticized the REC for uniting with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) since certain ACNA dioceses ordain women to Holy Orders. While only a few dioceses ordain women to the priesthood, there are more that ordain women to the diaconate.
Church polity refers to the form of governance and organization of a church. The CRC follows a Presbyterian form of church polity organized under governance by elders, as compared to Episcopal polities organized under governance by bishops (Roman Catholic, United Methodist, and Episcopal denominations) and Congregational polities organized under the governance of the local congregation (Congregational, Baptist, Disciples of Christ). Governance by elders is assumed throughout the Christian Reformed Church Order, but CRC polity is not exactly like that of Presbyterian denominations. Two particular differences include the fact that the CRC has limited tenure for officebearers (so elders and deacons serve "terms", not "forever"), and ministers are ordained and credentialed by a local congregation, not the regional classis or presbytery. Another key difference is that church polity in the CRC does not have confessional status and, therefore, the Church Order does not have the same authority as the creeds. The Church Order is subordinate to the creeds and confessions, which are subordinate to Scripture.