The Charismatic Episcopal Church (CEC), officially the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church (ICCEC), is a Christian denomination established in 1992. The ICCEC is a part of the Convergence Movement. Within North America, most of the Charismatic Episcopal Church's congregations and missions are located within the Northern, Southeastern, Midwest, and Western United States; it also has a presence in Texas, and in Western Canada. History Convergence background The Charismatic Episcopal Church began when a variety of independent churches throughout the United States, as part of the Convergence Movement, began to blend evangelical teaching and charismatic worship with liturgies from the Book of Common Prayer inspired by the spiritual pilgrimages of modern Evangelical Protestant writers like Thomas Howard, Robert E. Webber, Peter E. Gillquist and the ancient Christian writers and their communities. These men, along with theologians, scripture scholars, and pastors in a number of traditions, were calling Christians back to their roots in the primitive church. Establishment and growth On June 26, 1992, Randolph Adler was consecrated the first bishop and primate of the ICCEC with Timothy Michael Barker of the International Free Catholic Communion—who was consecrated by Archbishop-Patriarch Herman Adrian Spruit and his wife functioning as the principal consecrator, both clergy of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch, an independent Catholic jurisdiction. A few years after the consecration of Adler, the ICCEC's clergy began to express concern about Barker's embrace of theological liberalism, Gnosticism, Theosophy, non-traditional sexual ethics, and the ordination of women to the priesthood, all of which are contrary to ICCEC beliefs. In 1996, Adler was named the communion's first patriarch. In 1997, the ICCEC sought and acquired consecration and ordination of all of its clergy by the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church through the episcopal genealogy of Carlos Duarte Costa. The ICCEC adopted the following vision statement: "The Charismatic Episcopal Church exists to make visible the Kingdom of God; to bring the rich sacramental and liturgical life of the early church to searching evangelicals and charismatics; to carry the power of Pentecost to our brothers and sisters in the historic churches; and finally, to provide a home for all Christians who seek a liturgical-sacramental, evangelical, charismatic church and a foundation for their lives and gifts of ministry." The ICCEC experienced rapid growth for the first ten years of its existence, however the U.S. growth rate plateaued at the beginning of the 21st century. Schism into Antioch