Fellowship of Independent Evangelical

Churches
The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC)
is a network of 639 independent evangelical churches mainly in Fellowship of Independent
the United Kingdom. Evangelical Churches

History Classification Protestant

The FIEC was formed in 1922 under the name A Fellowship of Orientation Evangelical
Undenominational and Unattached Churches and Missions.[2] It Theology Evangelical
was later renamed The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical
Polity Independent
Churches. The Fellowship brought together many independent
churches and mission halls, which had been somewhat isolated. [3] Leader John Stevens
Associations Affinity[1]
Statistics Region mainly United
Kingdom
By February 2021, the FIEC had come to include 639 churches Founder Rev Edward
across Great Britain and the Channel Islands,[4] and 50,000 Joshua Poole-
members.[5] Connor[2]
Origin 1922 as A
Beliefs Fellowship of
Undenominational
The FIEC is in the Independent Evangelical tradition.[6] and Unattached
According to the National Director of FIEC, "An ‘Independent’
Churches and
church is self-governing. Each individual local church has ultimate
Missions
control over its own affairs. It does not belong to any external
body or institution which has control over it."[7] The FIEC Congregations 639
leadership claims it exercises 'something comparable to the sub- Members 50,000
[8]
apostolic' ministry of Timothy and Titus. Some trace the routes
Official website fiec.org.uk (http
of Independency to separatists, such as Robert Browne in the time
s://fiec.org.uk/)
of Elizabeth I and James I of England, but "separatism" may be an
unhelpful term to use in the present day to describe FIEC, because
although a church has to be autonomous and self-governing to affiliate to the FIEC, one of the main
purposes of the FIEC is that local churches should work together to share resources as they seek to advance
the Christian Faith. A number of churches joined FIEC when they separated from a denomination that
moved away from what they considered to be historic orthodox biblical Christianity. For example,
Westminster Chapel, a leading church in the Independent tradition, joined the FIEC when the
Congregational Union merged with the English Presbyterian Church to form the United Reformed Church
denomination (URC). Many Independent churches within the FIEC are Baptist churches but the FIEC is
open both to churches that only baptise adults and also to churches that baptise the children of believers.[9]
The FIEC believes the classical Complementarian view which recognises that the distinctive calling to be a
pastor or elder in the local church, and to be the head of the home, is a calling for men. It also recognises
and encourages a wide calling of ministries within the church for women and men.[10] [11]

Practical services
FIEC Limited is a registered charity and trust corporation working under the title FIEC Practical Services. It
holds church property in trust for many churches and also provides legal advice to churches and other
charities. In most cases where it holds property in trust for churches, its role is limited to acting in
accordance with the lawful instructions of the church for which it holds the property, although in some
cases, it does also have decision making powers concerning the use of the property.

Leadership
The FIEC is led by a team of directors. The senior director is the National Director, John Stevens. Other
directors are Adrian Reynolds (Training), Andy Patterson (Mission), Johnny Prime (Pastoral), Andy Hunter
(Scotland), Gemma Adam (Practical Services) and Trevor Archer (London).[12]

Relations with other churches

FIEC is the largest corporate partner of Affinity, which was previously called the British Evangelical
Council.[1]

They also believe that Ecumenism in the form of Churches Together is not a positive move, citing various
reasons including the liberal stance of other churches.[13] The Trust Board has recently affirmed that formal
membership of Churches Together (CT) is inconsistent with the FIEC Statement on Ecumenism. However
a number of fellowships publicly profess their affiliation to CT.

Issues raised by the Bible League Quarterly from 2009 to 2012

Allegations of engagement in ecumenism by a missionary to Poland of Carey Baptist Church have also
been made in articles in the July 2009[14] and January 2010[15] issues of the Bible League Quarterly,[16] a
journal once edited by the Fellowship's own founder, Rev E. J. Poole-Connor,[2] which now has a
circulation of just over 1000 copies per issue. This issue is regarded by some as controversial as it is alleged
to be a violation of the Fellowship's own statement in 1996 opposing ecumenism.[17] As an association of
autonomous churches, the FIEC has defended the responsibility of Carey's elders to examine the
allegations, but declined to examine them independently. The concerns were first raised in November
2008.[18] On 23 March 2012 a modified statement on ecumenism was published,[13] and the old
withdrawn.[17] Further concerns about connections between prominent FIEC personalities and the Polish
ecclesiastical scene were raised in 2012 by the same journal.[19]

References
1. Affinity. "The FIEC is the largest constituent member body of those which make up Affinity."
(http://www.affinity.org.uk/belonging/article/affinity_partners/) Archived (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20060822032841/http://www.affinity.org.uk/belonging/article/affinity_partners/) 2006-
08-22 at the Wayback Machine
 2. Fountain, David (22 March 2005). Contending for the Faith: E. J. Poole-Connor – A Prophet
Amidst the Sweeping Changes in English Evangelicalism. London: Wakeman Trust. p. 174.
ISBN 978-1-870855-32-7.
3. Tola Mbakwe, Network of churches FIEC marks 100th anniversary with 100 gospel
initiatives (https://premierchristian.news/en/news/article/network-of-churches-fiec-marks-100t
h-anniversary-with-100-gospel-initiatives), premierchristian.news, UK, 27 Nov 2022
4. "Welcome to the Family (February 2021)" (https://fiec.org.uk/news/welcome-to-the-family-feb
ruary-2021). FIEC. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
5. Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches, Who we are (https://fiec.org.uk/who-we-ar
e), fiec.org.uk, UK, retrieved November 5, 2022
6. "Beliefs" (http://www.fiec.org.uk/about-us/beliefs).
7. "Independent but not alone | Strand Blog | What we do | Fellowship of Independent
Evangelical Churches" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130716005912/http://www.fiec.org.u
k/what-we-do/strand-blog/independent-but-not-alone). www.fiec.org.uk. Archived from the
original (http://www.fiec.org.uk/what-we-do/strand-blog/independent-but-not-alone) on 2013-
07-16.
8. Stevens, John (1 November 2014). Independent Church. 10P Publishing. p. 315. ISBN 978-
1-909611-65-8.
9. "All in the Family – Baptism 1 | Strand Blog | What we do | Fellowship of Independent
Evangelical Churches" (https://web.archive.org/web/20140313233653/http://www.fiec.org.u
k/what-we-do/strand-blog/all-in-the-family-baptism-1). www.fiec.org.uk. Archived from the
original (http://www.fiec.org.uk/what-we-do/strand-blog/all-in-the-family-baptism-1) on 2014-
03-13.
10. "Archived copy" (https://web.archive.org/web/20100821063416/http://www.cofe.anglican.or
g/info/papers/womenbishops.pdf) (PDF). Archived from the original (http://www.cofe.anglica
n.org/info/papers/womenbishops.pdf) (PDF) on 2010-08-21. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
11. "Supporting Women in ministry" (https://web.archive.org/web/20071204132539/http://www.fi
ec.org.uk/Home/SupportingWomeninministry/tabid/522/Default.aspx). Archived from the
original (http://www.fiec.org.uk/Home/SupportingWomeninministry/tabid/522/Default.aspx)
on 2007-12-04.
12. Churches, Fellowship of Independent Evangelical. "Fellowship of Independent Evangelical
Churches" (https://fiec.org.uk/about-us/staff). FIEC. Retrieved 2017-02-21.
13. "FIEC's policy on uniting with other churches and groups" (https://web.archive.org/web/2014
0317211657/http://www.fiec.org.uk/resources/article/gospel-unity-statement). FIEC
statement on Gospel Unity, official website. Archived from the original (http://www.fiec.org.uk/
resources/article/gospel-unity-statement) on 2014-03-17. Retrieved 2014-05-28.
14. "More downgrade in the FIEC" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110725071343/http://www.bib
leleaguetrust.org/articles/fiec2.pdf) (PDF). Bible League Quarterly. July 2009. Archived from
the original (http://www.bibleleaguetrust.org/articles/fiec2.pdf) (PDF) on 2011-07-25. Alt URL
(http://strateias.org/downgrade.pdf)
15. "Deepening Downgrade In The FIEC" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110725072812/http://
www.bibleleaguetrust.org/articles/deepeningdowngrade_fiec.pdf) (PDF). Bible League
Quarterly. January 2010. Archived from the original (http://www.bibleleaguetrust.org/articles/
deepeningdowngrade_fiec.pdf) (PDF) on 2011-07-25.
16. Bible League Quarterly (http://www.bibleleaguetrust.org/quarterly.html) Archived (https://web.
archive.org/web/20100217123601/http://www.bibleleaguetrust.org/quarterly.html) 2010-02-
17 at the Wayback Machine retrieved May 18, 2010
17. the 1996 FIEC Council Statement on Ecumenism (http://www.strateias.org/96statement.htm)
18. Published appeal for action (http://www.strateias.org/RU.pdf) retrieved August 6, 2010
19. "Continued FIEC Cooperation with Polish Ecumenists" (http://www.strateias.org/deeper.pdf)
(PDF). Bible League Quarterly. October 2012.

External links
Official website (https://fiec.org.uk/)

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