Church of the Apostles, Atlanta, Georgia USA
WearyPilgrim
Shipmate Posts: 11
I'm curious as to whether anyone is familiar with the "independent Anglican" Church of the Apostles in suburban Atlanta. It's a huge church with a neo-Gothic building, although the sanctuary has pews that surround the chancel, which has a center pulpit and Communion table covered with variously-styled chalices. (No candles.) The place has stained glass windows and a large pipe organ, but an "auditorium" feel. Apostles is led by the Reverend Michael Youssef, an Egyptian-born former Episcopal priest who is a graduate of Moore Theological College, Fuller Seminary (D.Min.) and Emory University (Ph.D.). Youssef founded the church in the late 1970s or early '80s as an evangelical parish within the Atlanta Diocese, but it separated from the Episcopal Church several years after it was formed, largely over the diocese's affirmation of te LGBTQ+ community. As the church was meeting in a high school auditorium, there was no property dispute. Youssef is a prominent evangelical with national television and online ministries. I don't know whether he has canonical residence in any Anglican body, but he has spoken at least once at an ACNA gathering. Nor do I know whether the church uses any of the Prayer Book liturgies.
Comments
“The Church of The Apostles is an independent non-denominational church with Anglican roots. We stand in the Anglican tradition, specifically in the pattern of church government as well as various practices of worship.”
I would have thought bishops would be a sine qua non of standing in the Anglican pattern of church government.
And the order of worship on the website doesn’t appear related to any Anglican Prayer Book order I’m familiar with.
It’s the Coptic Orthodox Church that claims to have been founded by St. Mark. The bio also says Dr. Youssef “immigrated to Australia as a young man where he studied at Moore Theological College in Sydney . . . .”
There is a sizeable Coptic community here in Sydney (mostly from Egypt since the late 60s but more recently from Ethiopia). They were and are not a popular minority in Egypt and after 1956 Nasser was glad to see the back of the Copts as well as the Alexandrine Greeks, Armenians and Italians.
Italian
There's a whole thing on the church website about the process the son went through before taking over the church -- he met with the vestry a bunch and they had the head of Reformed Theological Seminary administer a four-hour exam. No offense to the Reformed tradition, but this is not how Anglicans do things.
Many years back ( late 1970s) I encountered 2 Australian Baptist ordinands ( brothers) who trained at Moore. They chose not to train at Morling College ( the Baptist school in Sydney) as they considered that the teaching there did not place sufficient emphasis on Hell. Since then I have heard of other conservative Baptists and Presbyterians ( the rump remaining after two-thirds of Presbys elected to join the Methodists and Congregationalists to form the Uniting Church of Oz) ordinands who have chosen to train at Moore.
FWIW, Reformed Theological Seminary was founded in the 1960s by conservatives from the old Presbyterian Church in the United States (aka, “the Southern Church,” now the PC(USA)) who disapproved of the direction in which the PCUS was moving. Those same conservatives were among those who left the PCUS in the early 70s to form the Presbyterian Church in America.
Reformed Theological Seminary serves the PCA, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (which, similar to the PCA, was started in the early 1980s by conservatives who left the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., aka “the Northern Church,” now the PC(USA)), the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (a small denomination descended from Scottish Seceder and Covenanter groups), and other conservative Presbyterian groups.
They compare it to the PCA ordination exam:
https://apostles1.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Vetting-Process-REV.pdf
But yes, it looks like they are doing their own thing with a kind of (small a) anglican (small r) reformed flavour.
It's linked via here https://apostles.org/ourpastor/
"Jonathan is deeply aware of the question that may arise as he steps into the role his father has held for 39 years – is this just a family business? He wants every member to know that church leaders (including him) aren’t simply “shuffled in” – they are carefully prepared, trained, and examined for the role. He underwent a rigorous year-long process before the announcement of the transition"
intentionally involved trusted lay leaders (vestry members) in the vetting process.”
The senior pastor can appoint his own successor? That sets of loud alarm bells for me. It sound like just another megachurch, with sprinklings of Anglican and Reformed to make it slightly distinctive.
It's a direction of travel often enough for former Anglican Churches that leave - I presume what happens is that the top down appointment style meets the new most senior person notionally taking on the role of 'bishop'.