By DAVID EPPS
Guest Columnist

Labels are funny things. For example, what is a Baptist? Well, that depends on where you are.

In Georgia, one who is a Baptist is most likely a Southern Baptist. In New York, however, he is probably an American Baptist. In eastern Tennessee, he might be a Missionary Baptist, a Freewill Baptist, an Independent Baptist, or a Primitive Baptist. In North Carolina, there are a number of Pentecostal Freewill Baptists.

It's the same with Lutherans. Lutherans may be members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, or be Missouri Synod Lutherans, or, perhaps, Wisconsin Synod Lutherans.

You can be a United Methodist, a Free Methodist, an Independent Methodist, a Southern Methodist, African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, or Wesleyan Methodist and still be a “Methodist.” You can even be a Wesleyan and not be a Methodist.

It's tends to get confusing. Why, there's not even just one “Catholic” Church! Sometimes, people ask me if our congregation, Christ the King, is an Episcopal Church and if I am an Episcopal priest. Again, labels are a factor.

There are some 26 “episcopal” denominations in the United States. There's the Evangelical Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Anglican Church in America, the Anglican Catholic Church, the traditional Episcopal Church, the traditional Anglican Communion, the traditional Protestant Episcopal Church, the Episcopal Missionary Church, the Reformed Episcopal Church, and... well, you get the idea.

The largest of the group is the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, commonly called ECUSA. Even within ECUSA, there is a large counter-church, with its own organization, leaders, and agenda, known as the Episcopal Synod of America.

Neither I nor my church are or ever have been affiliated with ECUSA. We are a member congregation of the International Communion of Charismatic Episcopal Churches which, according to Touchstone Magazine, a publication that concerns itself with things Anglican (Episcopal), is the second largest of the “episcopal” bodies.

Unlike most of the other episcopal denominations, the CEC is not a splinter group of ECUSA, although a number of CEC priests and churches have left ECUSA for one reason or another and have found a home with us.

In fact, our “line of apostolic succession,” or the spiritual lineage of clergy, authorizing them for ministry, that can be traced directly to the Apostles, is not Anglican at all, but Roman Catholic.

So, are we Episcopal? Yes. Am I a member of the ordained priesthood. Yes. But we are not ECUSA.

The Charismatic Episcopal Church is actually far larger in Asia and Africa than it is in the United States. The distinctives of the CEC include: an emphasis on praise and worship, an openness to the gifts of the Spirit, a commitment to the authority of the Holy Scriptures and the power of the preached word, the necessity of a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, a high view of the set-apart ministry and of the sacraments, the priesthood of all believers, an adherence to biblical government, an appreciation of the historic Church, a liturgically-based worship that is directed to God alone, a vision to evangelize the unbeliever and to plant churches, a commitment to train and disciple people, and a positive vision of the future.

By “charismatic,” we mean that we believe that everything that was experienced by the Church of the New Testament can be experienced today. By “episcopal”, we mean a Church guided by bishops, in apostolic succession, who are men of prayer, men of integrity, and men who are committed to the Scriptures, the historic Creeds, and the local church.

We are not “protestants” in the strictest sense. We are not anti-Catholic or anti-anyone else. We are not pro-testing anybody. Rather, we are pro-church, pro-family, pro-life, pro-Bible, and pro-people.

This may seem all much ado about very little, but labels are very important to some people, so it's important that people not be misled or confused.

For my part, I was born of Baptist parents (Southern, I think, though a great-grandfather was a Primitive Baptist preacher), was raised Methodist before it was United, and spent four years as a lay, then licensed, United Methodist minister.

I took my undergraduate degree at a state university majoring in social work, received Bible training and a diploma at an Assemblies of God school, received my best seminary training at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, and was enriched by gad-doodles of other training elsewhere including Baptist, charismatic, and Orthodox schools. I was honored to spend 19 years in the Assemblies of God, most of that time as an ordained minister.

My spiritual pilgrimage continued and, in 1995, in Oklahoma City, I was ordained into the episcopal diaconate, then into the priesthood. In 1996, I planted a new CEC congregation in the South Metro area of Atlanta, where I plan to minister for the rest of my life. A friend once introduced me as a member of the “denomination of the month club,” an inaccurate label, but one that describes the varied influences in my life.

Recently, someone who took issue with one of my articles (which is okay, since some articles are designed to provoke and intelligent people will often disagree) also warned readers that I was not an Episcopal priest. He was wrong in that assessment, although he was right, if he meant ECUSA.

Another reader sent me a note saying that as a religion columnist, I should always try to make a moral point, should keep a serious tone, and not offend anyone.

Ah, there go the labels again. While I am a religious leader and some of my articles deal with religious issues, I am not a religious columnist. I write about human interests issues, political issues, moral issues, and everyday life issues. Some are meant to be humorous, some are meant to provoke. Some are intended as satire and some are deadly serious.

Generally speaking, I believe that people take politics, church, themselves, and their opinions way too seriously. I also believe these same people frequently do not take the pain and suffering of others, the needs and concerns of those around them, and God and His Word seriously enough. But... enough of this rambling.

Whatever label we are forced to wear, let's get less serious about ourselves, more serious about others, and go out there today and make a positive impact on our world. “World-changer” is a label I could live with.

[Father David Epps is rector of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church. He may be contacted online at CTKCEC@aol.com or at P. O. Box 2192, Peachtree City, GA 30269.

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