One of the smaller breakaways of a breakaway group within the Anglican tradition has set apart three new clergy and appointed one a “Canon Missioner to the Earth.”
The Episcopal Free Fellowship of America dates to 2013 with roots in the Brazilian Anglican community but in 2025 expanded its presence in the United States amid dissention in the Anglican Church in North America, itself a breakaway from The Episcopal Church in America.
The denomination’s website currently lists five U.S. parishes — in Massachusetts, Tennessee, Illinois and California.
Bishop Joshua Lickter appointed Tim Clayton as EFFA’s Canon Missioner to the Earth, “strengthening the fellowship’s commitment to ecological justice,” a news release explained. Clayton is based at North Shore Church in Beverly, Mass.
The congregation grounds its ministry in “Ancient + Future Beauty, Goodness, Truth.” Its creation-care work includes the North Shore Pollinator Corridor Initiative, a justice-rooted and theologically grounded effort to promote ecological and human flourishing through native pollinator gardens, community education and socioeconomic equity across communities north of Boston.
“The church is called not only to proclaim the love of God, but to embody that love in the world God so deeply loves,” Bishop Lickter said.
Also received into the Episcopal Free Fellowship of America were two clergy from North Shore Church, Wendy Dixon and Jen Keifer.
On June 24, the Massachusetts congregation disaffiliated from the Anglican Church in North America and, after a period of discernment, aligned with the EFFA.
A news release from the denomination said: “The incardination of Clayton, Dixon and Keifer affirms their ongoing pastoral ministries and the EFFA’s commitment to make room for communities seeking a more expansive and justice-centered expression of Anglican and sacramental Christianity. The fellowship looks forward to accompanying Trinity North Shore as the congregation continues its discernment and its ministry of worship, hospitality, ecological renewal and neighborly love.”
The Anglican Church in North America, founded in 2009, has experienced internal strife in recent years, including the departure of its Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy that endorses chaplains for military and other organizations.
The ACNA consists of about 1,000 congregations, a fraction of the 6,300 congregations listed with The Episcopal Church.
The shuffling among U.S. Anglicans runs both ways. Two church plants originally affiliated with the ACNA have joined The Episcopal Church: Resurrection Anglican Church in Austin, Texas, and The Table in Indianapolis.
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