ST. ALBAN'S Reformed Episcopal Mission
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About Our Mission
This year, by God's grace, we enter our Twelfth year as a mission of the Diocese of Mid-America of the Reformed Episcopal Church. We believe that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and hold to the doctrines set forth in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion produced by the English Reformation. Our worship is liturgical, using the majestic form of the historic Book of Common Prayer (1928). We are a body of believers dedicated to building a church to the glory of God for the furtherance of his eternal kingdom. We welcome all who seek a church home which preserves historic Reformed Anglican worship and doctrine. Reformation Anglicanism is alive and well at Saint Alban's. Come and join us.
--"Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." Psalm 127
THE HISTORY OF SAINT ALBAN'S:
1854-Ca 1893:
The Reverend William B. Lacey, D.D., officially organized Saint Alban's Protestant Episcopal Church in Jackson in May 1854. 
Among the first organizers was Armand Blackmar, who published the famous Confederate secession anthem "The Bonnie Blue Flag." Services were held in the First Baptist Church of Jackson on Sunday afternoons through June 1856, and eventually relocated to an upper room of a now unknown building. Throughout its antebellum years Saint Alban's was active in its ministry to the local slave population.
Bishop Leonidas Polk baptized seven slaves and confirmed eleven others during his 1856 visitation. A regular ministry to the mentally ill was also established at the nearby state insane asylum. The Reverend John Esten Cooke Smedes served as minister from 1859 to 1866. After the war, the small church continued in service under a series of ministers. By 1887 Saint Alban's had acquired several lots in Jackson but never succeeded in building a house of worship. The church continued in service until circa 1893.
1944-1951:
Saint Alban's was reorganized as a Protestant Episcopal Mission in early 1944, with the Reverend John L. Womack serving as its first priest-in-charge. Though the original Saint Alban's Church had been dormant for approximately fifty years, the reorganized mission retained the old church's name. This body held its services in the Jackson Presbyterian Church until December 1951, when the mission was closed and its remaining members transferred to churches in Clinton and St. Francisville. In 1984, the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana (formerly the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana) sold the original lots acquired by Saint Alban's in the 1870's & 1880's, thereby disposing the last vestage of its interest in the mission.
1998 to present:
Considering themselves the spiritual and doctrinal heirs of the earlier Saint Alban's Protestant Episcopal church and mission, and therefore representing a continuum of this historic body of believers, Saint Alban's Reformed Episcopal Mission held its inaugural service on March 8, 1998, re-establishing historic Anglican faith and worship in the Felicianas. Its first communion service was celebrated the same month by the Very Rev. Dr. Ray R. Sutton, Dean of Cranmer Theological House, Shreveport, La. Services are presently held at the Ethel United Methodist Church in Ethel, La. (for location & directions see end of page). Saint Alban's gratefully continues the labors of its forbears by carrying forward Christ's banner in its own time.
ABOUT THE REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH: 
The Reformed Episcopal Church is a continuation of the English Church established by the Protestant Reformation. It is built upon the foundation of the authoritative Word of God and does not seek to reinterpret Scripture to fit the whims of changing society. It was officially organized in 1873 by the Rt. Rev. George David Cummins, a duly consecrated bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, who became increasingly concerned about the manner in which that church was straying from its biblical and historical base. Bishop Cummins' vision was of a church committed to the Holy Scriptures functioning within the historical framework of the ancient and reformational church. In his words, it was to be a church following the "old paths."
The Reformed Episcopal Church maintains three seminaries: Philadelphia Theological Seminary (Philadelphia, Pa.), Cummins Theological Seminary (Summerville, S.C.), and Cranmer Theological House (Houston,TX). It has also recently opened Martin Bucer Theological Seminary in Bonn, Germany. In 1998, the R.E.C. signed a concordat with the Anglican Province of America permitting the sharing of clergy, seminaries, and the participation of delegates from each denomination at the synods of both groups. The Reformed Episcopal Church is also in communion with the Free Church of England.
VOICES OF THE FAITH
--On Christian duty--
"We were not redeemed and bought with a price to be idle and do nothing, but to glorify Him in body and spirit that hath bought us." The Rt. Rev. Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York
--On the salvaging of Anglican Christianity--
"We must submit unreservedly to the authority of Holy Scripture."
"We must re-establish the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion in their rightful place."
"We must restore vibrant, vital biblical preaching."
"We must catechize the church."
"We must preserve the full integrity of the historic Book of Common Prayer."
"We must hold the church and its leadership accountable to that inviolable core of belief and practice which is the foundation of our commitment as a Christian and an Anglican Church..." The Rt. Rev. Leonard Riches, Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church
SAINT ALBAN'S PRAYER LIST
Please pray for the following persons: HOWARD BAHR, MARY BOUDREAUX, AUDLEY BRUMMETT, BILL CALDWELL, CAMILLE CAMPBELL, NIKKI DAVIS, the DEWEY DELEE family, EVA DITTMAR, CHRISTOPHER FISER, PHILIPP FISER, the SAM FORD family, the HOFMANN family, the HENRY HOWELL family, RICHARD HOWELL, SUZANNE JUST, JASON KENNEDY, the KESSLER family, LEANNE UPTON, & FRANK WALKER. Please pray for St. Alban's student: CLARA HOWELL.
"Assist us mercifully, O Lord, in these our supplications and prayers, and dispose the way of thy servants towards the attainment of everlasting salvation; that, among all the changes and chances of this mortal life, they may ever be defended by thy most gracious and ready help; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
SAINT ALBAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS:
SAINT ALBAN's Sunday morning RELIGIOUS STUDY is presently studying Saint Paul's EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. Our Bible studies are in depth, verse by verse studies. The following is a list of our most recent studies: Ephesians, Romans, the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel of John, Colossians, The Thirty Nine Articles of Religion, and The Book of Homilies
How to Find Us With Godspeed
Our meeting place is just 30 minutes north of Baton Rouge.
Services are held at the Ethel United Methodist Church, located
at the intersection of La. 19 & La. 955W, in Ethel,
Louisiana. If traveling from Baton Rouge, take La. 19
north through Baker, Zachary & Slaughter, to Ethel. In Ethel
turn left onto La. 955. Proceed a few hundred yards to
the Ethel United Methodist Church which will be on your left.
If traveling from West Feliciana Parish, take La. 10 east through Jackson. Continue on La. 10 through the traffic signal at the junction of La. 10 & La. 68. Approximately 6/10 of a mile past this intersection, turn right onto Line Road (A storage facility stands at this intersection). Proceed 3.9 miles to a stop sign, which will be the junction with La. 955 (DO NOT continue straight on "Line Road Extension"). Turn left onto La. Hwy. 955 and proceed a few hundred yards to the Ethel United Methodist Church which will be on your right.
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