Mark Joseph Lawrence is an American Anglican bishop. He was the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina from 2008 to 2012. He has been the bishop of the diocese now known as the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina since 2012. In November 2012, under his leadership, a large portion of the old diocese withdrew from the national Episcopal Church to become an independent Anglican diocese. They continued to operate under the name "Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina," despite having ended their affiliation with the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church did not recognize this diocesan withdrawal, instead considering Lawrence to have abandoned the church and his position as diocesan bishop. Lawrence's diocese affiliated with the Anglican Church in North America in 2017, and in 2019 began referring to itself as the "Anglican Diocese of South Carolina." 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 the Anglican Global South recognized Lawrence as bishop over a diocese "within the Anglican Communion" in December 2012 and recognized the diocese as part of the Anglican Global South in August 2014. Such disagreements over Anglican Communion membership have sometimes arisen in churches undergoing Anglican realignment. The status of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina has been the subject of multiple state and federal lawsuits, some of which are still ongoing.
Lawrence was born in Bakersfield, California, on March 19, 1950. A fifth generation Californian, he was educated at California State University, Bakersfield and Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry. He has also received honorary degrees from Nashotah House and Sewanee. 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 ; Saint Stephen’s, McKeesport, Pennsylvania 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. 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 convention of his departing diocese 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. Lawrence attended the General Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America in June 2013, where he was one of the speakers.
