Beneath the salacious headlines from the Anglican Church in North America lies a high-stakes battle about military chaplaincy.
Although one of the nation’s smaller Christian denominations, the ACNA endorses a disproportionately massive share of United States military chaplains. And that has been a profit center for the Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy, led by a bishop who now has fled the denomination to start his own.
To tell that story, however, we have to back up to 2009, when the ACNA was born as a refuge for conservatives fleeing the so-called “moral chaos” of the Episcopal Church. Such “chaos” included the consecration of an openly gay bishop, the allowance of LGBTQ people and women to serve in holy orders, and the church’s growing progressive tendencies in ethics and politics.
Sixteen years later, the chaos is emanating from inside the ACNA house:
- The archbishop is suspended for sexual misconduct.
- The bishop of armed forces chaplaincy has seceded to start his own denomination.
- The interim leader appointed to clean up the mess is himself dogged by allegations of financial impropriety — allegations originally leveled by the very bishop he is now trying to contain and defrock.
- Multiple trials and investigations of key church leaders are in process.
Military chaplaincy
For a denomination of its size, the ACNA punches well above its weight class in the Pentagon.
The ACNA reports a membership of roughly 128,000 people — a figure that has plateaued in recent years. Yet, the denomination’s Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy endorses more than 300 chaplains. This represents 10% of the roughly 3,000 active-duty chaplains representing all faiths currently serving the armed forces.
The Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy endorses 10% of the roughly 3,000 active-duty military chaplains.
By comparison, the Southern Baptist Convention is the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, with about 13 million members. Its North American Mission Board, which serves as the principal SBC endorser of chaplains, reports that it “supports” about 3,700 chaplains. Numbers for current active-duty SBC chaplains are not readily available and are not published by NAMB. A widely cited figure from a few years ago alleged this number to be about 1,400 to 1,500 military chaplains, but more recent reporting suggests the number may be closer to about 1,000.
If an average of the latter number is used, that is a ratio of one chaplain for every 9,000 Southern Baptists. The ACNA, by contrast, boasts one chaplain for every 426 Anglicans.
Thus, the ACNA is roughly 20 times more represented in the military chaplaincy per capita than the SBC. This gives the small denomination a “prestige multiplier,” granting its bishops access and influence in federal spaces that far outstrips their actual footprint in American religious life.
Bishop Derek Jones
This disparity explains why the current schism is so vicious.
When Bishop Derek Jones, longtime head of the JAFC, announced this month he was launching a new denomination — the Anglican Reformed Catholic Church — he wasn’t just taking a few parishes with him. He was threatening to walk away with the ACNA’s crown jewel.
And for Jones, military chaplain endorsement reportedly has become a profit center. According to one report: “Among the complaints against Jones are a ‘pay to play’ tithing policy that mandated all endorsed clergy directly give 10% of their income (a matter of public record for military chaplains) directly to the jurisdiction before giving to their local church or Christian ministries. If true, this could be a violation of federal law in which financial contributions to a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization cannot be mandated as a condition of employment.”
The Dobbs Dossier
With Archbishop Steve Wood suspended over allegations of sexual misconduct (specifically, an unwanted kiss and inappropriate behavior toward women), the ACNA turned to Bishop Julian Dobbs, dean of the province, to serve as interim leader.
Dobbs, 57 and a native of New Zealand, is a bishop known for his hardline stance against Islam and for his conservative culture war credentials, was tasked with restoring order.
Julian Dobbs
However, the Washington Post revealed this week that Dobbs carries significant baggage of his own — specifically, a history of financial investigations that complicate his role as the “cleaner.”
The “Dobbs Dossier,” as critics might call it, involves two major incidents:
First is the Barnabas Aid Investigation from 2018.
At that time, Dobbs was a leader at Barnabas Aid, a global charity for persecuted Christians. Internal records obtained by the Post show the charity investigated Dobbs and his wife for more than $28,000 in “questionable expenses,” including travel, meals and phone bills.
More seriously, the charity accused them of running a “secret” nonprofit, Katartismos Global, out of the Barnabas offices, allegedly poaching donors through, among other things, unauthorized access to donor mailing lists and contact information.
Foley Beach
The dispute was resolved when the ACNA, under then-Archbishop Foley Beach, investigated and cleared Dobbs, finding “no credible evidence of willful wrongdoing.”
Barnabas Aid disputed the finding but closed the case.
Second, and more applicable in the discussion around Jones and the dispute over chaplaincy, is the curious case of an alleged missing $48,000.
In a twist of irony, the second allegation against Dobbs came from none other than Bishop Derek Jones — the man now leading the chaplaincy exodus. In 2019, Jones accused Dobbs of “absconding” with nearly $48,000 of chaplaincy funds while Dobbs was leading the Convocation of Anglicans in North America.
Once again, Archbishop Beach’s administration cleared Dobbs. However, in March 2021, Dobbs wrote a formal apology letter acknowledging “confusion” in accounting practices. Jones accepted the apology, and the matter was considered closed — until now.
A circular firing squad
The current state of the ACNA leadership structure resembles a circular firing squad where everyone has pulled the trigger. Consider the tangled web of conflict in the following timeline:
- 2019: Bishop Jones accuses Bishop Dobbs of financial misconduct regarding the $48,000.
- September 2025: Archbishop Wood suspends Bishop Jones for “abuse of ecclesiastical power” regarding his running of the chaplaincy.
- November 2025: Bishop Dobbs (now interim dean) suspends Archbishop Wood for alleged sexual misconduct.
- December 2025: Bishop Dobbs is now in charge of the ACNA, trying to stop Bishop Jones from leaving with the chaplains, while Bishop Jones points back to Bishop Dobbs’ financial history to argue the denomination lacks moral standing.
In sum: The man accused of stealing money (Dobbs) is disciplining the man accused of sexual harassment (Wood), while fighting the man who accused him of stealing money (Jones), who was suspended by the man accused of harassment.
A ‘splinter of a splinter’
For the average pew-sitting Anglican — or the Baptist observer watching from a safe distance — the tragedy is institutional. The ACNA was founded on the promise of “biblical order” and accountability, a direct reaction to the perceived theological and moral laxity of the Episcopal Church.
Yet, as 2026 approaches, the denomination finds itself mired in the very dysfunction it sought to escape. The “splinter” is splintering.
The formation of Bishop Jones’ new Anglican Reformed Catholic Church suggests the ACNA’s “big tent” coalition is collapsing. If Jones succeeds in taking the bulk of the 300 chaplains with him, the ACNA will lose not just members, but its outsized footprint in the public square.
For now, the ACNA remains a cautionary tale: A movement born in schism is often destined to die by it. And in this case, the fight isn’t just over theology — it’s over who gets to sign the paperwork for the biggest profit-center a small denomination has.
David Bumgardner is a writer, theologian and educator living in Columbus, Ohio. He is a former BNG Clemons Fellow and a graduate of Texas Baptist College at Southwestern Seminary. He is a licensed commissioned pastor and holds an evangelism license through the Anglican Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Diocese of Boga, and Missio Mosaic, an ecumenical missional society and religious order. He is awaiting the conferral of his master of arts in practical theology degree from Winebrenner Theological Seminary.
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