But she's since reconnected with her Anglican tradition through a new Jackson church whose spiritual headquarters is 8,000 miles away.

Called Holy Trinity Anglican Church, the Jackson congregation is part of the Anglican diocese of Rwanda, which has been planting churches for conservative Episcopalians in the United States. Through its organization, the Anglican Mission in America, the African diocese oversees some 80 U.S. congregations.

The new congregation meets at Ascension Lutheran Church in Jackson.

To its supporters, the Anglican Mission has rescued disaffected Episcopalians who feel U.S. church leaders have compromised Scripture to fit modern culture. To its critics, the organization has usurped the authority of local bishops and further fractured the 77-million member worldwide Anglican Communion.

"A major realignment of the Anglican Communion is under way," said the Rev. Tim Smith, Holy Trinity's rector.

'Spiritual cry' The Anglican Communion is a global network of parishes affiliated with the church of Canterbury in England. There are 38 provinces in the Communion, including the American and Rwandan churches.

Rwandan Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini is one of two church leaders from the global south who stepped beyond their geographic jurisdictions to lead American Episcopalians unhappy with their church leadership.

He recently visited the Jackson congregation, where he provides spiritual oversight, during a trip to the United States for an Anglican Mission in America conference.

"When Rwanda cried out for help, the world kept silent," Kolini said, speaking about the genocide in his country that killed more than 800,000 people. "When there was a spiritual cry we thought it not the right thing to do."

Kolini said he took the bold step of taking American congregations under his wing after a group of Episcopal clergy declared the U.S. church "outside the bounds of orthodox Christian doctrine and practice."

Kolini criticized the American church for straying from biblical values, saying the election of the American church's first openly gay bishop, the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, was only one example.

He blamed modernism and materialism for causing a moral decline in the Western world, saying its physical comforts lead to spiritual emptiness.

Robinson's consecration in 2003 widened the rift between conservative African bishops and their more liberal counterparts in the United States.

"We warned the Episcopal Church (U.S.A.) if they proceed to consecrate the bishop of New Hampshire then we will declare a broken communion," Kolini said.

An Anglican report issued in 2004 detailed how Robinson's consecration created problems in the global Anglican Communion. Called the Windsor Report, the document criticized American bishops for moving ahead with Robinson's consecration despite objections from bishops in more conservative provinces.

Kolini acknowledged that his reach into American territory has caused problems within the global church, but said he had to follow a higher authority.

"Either I obey people or I obey God," he said.

The Anglican Mission in American now claims more than 80 congregations and 15,000 members, but it hasn't eroded membership in the Episcopal Church U.S.A., said national church spokeswoman the Rev. Jan Nunley.

The Episcopal Church U.S.A. has 2.4 million members, which is about 3 percent of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion.

"We have 7,600 congregations," Nunley said. "It hasn't had the effect that was touted when the Anglican Mission in America first started."

Though it's customary for bishops in the Anglican Communion to visit resident bishops while in their provinces, during his trip to Jackson Kolini did not contact the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, the Rt. Rev. Duncan M. Gray III.

"One of the things I look forward to with people who call themselves Anglican is an ecumenical engagement, which has always been at the heart of true Anglicanism," Gray said. "It's a bit of an irony that those who call themselves Anglican are choosing not to be in communication, which is violating the very essence of our history."

Gray, who voted against electing Robinson as bishop, said the current debate about homosexuality is just one of a host of issues - including civil rights, abortion, capital punishment and war and peace - his church has wrestled with since its origin.

"We in the Episcopal Church have had very serious debates about ethics and moral life since our inception," he said. "Good, faithful people have disagreed in seeking to be faithful to their lord over all of these matters."

Looking ahead Smith of Holy Trinity said his congregation has moved beyond the controversy out of which his church was born.

"They feel called to plant an orthodox Anglican church," he said. "They are not in reaction to, they want to live in their baptismal vow."

The 40-member congregation meets for worship on Sunday evenings at Ascension Lutheran Church in Jackson.

Because the church doesn't have benches on which to kneel, worshippers sit forward in the pews when the liturgy calls for kneeling.

Smith said some members once belonged to Episcopal churches, but others are new to the Anglican tradition.

To help orient the newcomers to the service, Smith pauses during worship to explain aspects of the liturgy.

Steve Williams, a Madison lawyer, is among a core group of congregants who helped form the church after leaving the Episcopal church.

But Williams is more interested in his church's future than the controversy out of which it developed.

"There are 120 million unchurched people in America," he said, adding that makes the United States the largest English-speaking mission field in the world. "I would like to think we could share our faith."

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