Catholic Apostolic Church

Church of Christ the King, Bloomsbury, which belongs to the trustees of the Catholic Apostolic Church

The Catholic Apostolic Church (CAC), also known as the Irvingian Church or Irvingite Church, is a denomination in the Restorationist branch of Christianity.[1][2] It originated in Scotland around 1831 and later spread to Germany and the United States.[3] The tradition to which the Catholic Apostolic Church belongs is sometimes referred to as Irvingism or the Irvingian movement after Edward Irving (1792–1834), a clergyman of the Church of Scotland credited with organising the movement.[1]

The church was organised in 1835 with the fourfold ministry of "apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors".[4] The denominations in the tradition of the Catholic Apostolic Church teach "the restoration to the universal church of prophetic gifts by the direct inspiration of the Holy Ghost."[5]

As a result of schism within the Catholic Apostolic Church, other Irvingian Christian denominations emerged, including the Old Apostolic Church, New Apostolic Church, Reformed Old Apostolic Church and United Apostolic Church; of these, the New Apostolic Church is the largest Irvingian Christian denomination today, with 16 million members.[6][7]

Irvingism has elaborate liturgies; it teaches three sacraments: Baptism, Holy Communion and Holy Sealing.[1][8][9]

  1. ^ a b c Carson, D. A. (February 10, 2020). Themelios, Volume 44, Issue 3. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-7252-6010-8. From this nexus at Albury Park would eventually emerge the openly-restorationist Catholic Apostolic Church, in which both Drummond and London Scots preacher, Edward Irving (1792-1834), would figure prominently. Significant for the purposes of this discussion is the fact that the Catholic Apostolic Church would distinguish itself not only for its bold claim to exercise the charismata of the Apostolic age, but also for its lavish liturgies borrowed from the pre-Reformation church, both East and West.
  2. ^ Bloesch, Donald G. (December 2, 2005). The Holy Spirit: Works Gifts. InterVarsity Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-8308-2755-8.
  3. ^ "Catholic Apostolic Church". The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. 2007.
  4. ^ Cannon, John (May 21, 2009). A Dictionary of British History. Oxford University Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-19-955037-1.
  5. ^ Robertson, John Ross (1886). Sketches in City Churches. J.R. Robertson. p. 125.
  6. ^ Nyika, Felix Chimera (2008). Restore the Primitive Church Once More: A Survey of Post Reformation Christian Restorationism. Kachere Series. p. 14. In the 1990s the New Apostolic Church had almost 300 apostles with 60,000 congregations comprising 16 million members globally.
  7. ^ Kuligin, Victor (2005). "The New Apostolic Church" (PDF). Africa Journal of Evangelical Theology. 24 (1): 1–18. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 11, 2014.
  8. ^ Whalen, William Joseph (1981). Minority Religions in America. Alba House. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-8189-0413-4.
  9. ^ Decisions of the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court) Federal Republic of Germany. Nomos. 1992. p. 6. ISBN 978-3-8329-2132-3.

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