Mark Lawrence (bishop)

Mark Joseph Lawrence (born March 19, 1950, in Bakersfield, California) is an American bishop. He has been the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina since 2008. In November 2012, the diocese under his leadership pursued withdrew from the national Episcopal Church to become currently an independent Anglican diocese, now under the Global South. The national Episcopal Church does not recognize this diocesan withdrawal. Instead, national leaders of the Episcopal Church consider Lawrence to have abandoned the Episcopal Church and his position as diocesan bishop. According to the official website of the global Anglican Communion, the independent diocese under Lawrence's leadership is not a member of the communion. However, the Steering Committee of Anglican primates of the Global South recognized Lawrence as bishop over a diocese "within the Anglican Communion" in December 2012 and recognized the diocese as part of the Global South in August 2014. The status of the Diocese of South Carolina is currently the subject of state and federal lawsuits, but is settled in terms of canon law. Currently, Lawrence and other bishops in the Diocese are in the beginning of a process to formally affiliate the Diocese with the Anglican Church in North America, with a formal announcement tentatively set for June 2017.

Lawrence has been married to Allison Kathleen Taylor since 1973. They have five children; Chadwick, an Episcopal priest and headmaster in Beaufort, South Carolina, married to Wendy; they have three children; eldest daughter Adelia, married to Stephen Matson who is planting an Anglican congregation in Southern California and also parents of three children; middle daughter, Emily, married to Jacob Jefferis, parents of two children; Joseph, a postualant for ordination attending Trinity School for Ministry, married to Joette, they have three children; and Chelsea, married to Jason Hamshaw, a youth minister at Prince George Episcopal Parish in Georgetown, South Carolina. They have two children.

Lawrence has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the California State University in Bakersfield (1976) and a Master of Divinity degree from Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania (1980). He also has honorary degrees from Nashotah House (2008) and Sewanee (2009).

Lawrence was born in Bakersfield, California, on March 19, 1950. A fifth generation Californian, he was educated at California State University, Bakersfield (BA, 1976) and Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry (M. Div. 1980). He has also received honorary degrees from Nashotah House (D.D. 2008) and Sewanee (D.D. 2009). He has ministered in a wide variety of parish settings from suburban church plant, rural mission, inner city church, to downtown parish in California and Pennsylvania. These include Holy Family, Fresno, California; Saint Mark’s, Shafter, California (1981-1984); Saint Stephen’s, McKeesport, Pennsylvania (1984-1997) where he also established on Mon Valley Tri-Church Ministry taking two smaller congregations under a multi-staff network; and Saint Paul’s, Bakersfield, California (1997-2007). Known for being a dedicated pastor-teacher, Lawrence also served, among many other capacities, the Commission on Ministry, the Standing Committee, the Board of Examining Chaplains, and rural dean. He also served as a deputy to the General Conventions of 2003 and 2006. He has published articles on devotional and ecclesial concerns in various periodicals.

Lawrence was known as a theological conservative in the Episcopal Church. He was consecrated as the diocesan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina on January 26, 2008, after a second election. He had first been elected in 2006, but did not gain approval to take office because of concern that he might try to lead a schism in the Diocese of South Carolina. His second election was approved following his reassurances that he would keep the diocese within the Episcopal Church.

As bishop, Lawrence opposed all liberal policies of the Episcopal Church until the final rupture took place on October 18, 2012, when the Episcopal Church found him guilty of abandoning the church and renouncing its order. On November 17, 2012, a special diocesan convention took place. The convention affirmed disaffiliation from the Episcopal Church and amended the diocesan constitution and canons to remove all references to the Episcopal Church. These actions were deemed ultra vires by the Episcopal Church and are currently the subject of ongoing lawsuits in U.S. federal court and before the South Carolina Supreme Court.

Lawrence attended the General Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America in June 2013, where he was one of the speakers.