Thomas McKenzie

Robert Thomas McKenzie (August 5, 1971 – August 23, 2021) was an American Anglican priest and author best known for his 2014 guidebook to Anglicanism, The Anglican Way, which was often used to introduce evangelical Christians to the Anglican tradition.

Early life and education McKenzie was born in 1971 in the Texas panhandle and raised in Canyon. Although he attended an Episcopal Church growing up, his family was non-religious. He had a conversion experience while participating in an Episcopal campus ministry while a student at the University of Texas at Austin. After graduating, he completed seminary at Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry and was ordained in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1998. McKenzie was married to Laura, and they had two children.

Ordained ministry McKenzie began his ministry as assistant rector of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Nashville.

McKenzie left the Episcopal Church and joined the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA), through which he planted Church of the Redeemer in Nashville in 2004. Redeemer grew, less from disaffected Episcopalians and more from evangelical Christians without a background in Anglicanism. In 2009, McKenzie was champion of the formation of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), of which the AMiA was a founding member. Redeemer grew to have several hundred people in attendance and planted "daughter" churches in the Nashville area.

Within the ACNA, McKenzie introduced author Tish Harrison Warren and her family to the Anglican tradition and mentored her during her ordination process.

Writings McKenzie is best known for The Anglican Way: A Guidebook, a 2014 volume that introduced many evangelicals to the basics of Anglicanism. McKenzie described "the Anglican way of faith" as "at best, a way of balance."

Later in life, McKenzie received attention for political commentary. In February 2016, prior to the Super Tuesday primary elections, he wrote a personal blog post condemning then-candidate Donald Trump. "Donald Trump is endlessly entertaining. If this election were a reality show, I’d watch every episode. But it’s not. This is too important. This isn’t funny anymore," McKenzie wrote. "I oppose his election as President, and believe that any other candidate now running, from either party, would make a better President. I believe his election would be dangerous to our country, and to the Church." The post received over a million pageviews within two weeks and triggered a backlash against McKenzie from Trump supporters. In February 2020, during Trump's reelection campaign, McKenzie stated that he had lost friends and parishioners since writing his blog post, but he pledged to vote for whomever the Democratic nominee turned out to be. "In Christianity, we always want a choice between good and evil, but the fallen world often only gives us a choice between evil and more evil. I usually have to take the less evil, and, at this point, any of the Democrats are less evil."

During the COVID-19 pandemic, McKenzie became outspoken on social media on issues related to vaccination and social distancing.

Death On August 23, 2021, McKenzie began a road trip to Santa Fe with his 22-year-old child Charlie, who was returning as a student at St. John's College. After the trip, McKenzie planned to commence a sabbatical that would include a study trip to England and walking the Camino de Santiago. Funeral services for Thomas and Charlie were held at the Church of the Redeemer on August 28.