Derek Jones (bishop)
Derek Linton Sean Jones is an American Anglican bishop. During his ministry, he has been canonically resident in the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches, the Church of Nigeria and the Anglican Church in North America, where he was the first bishop of the Special Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy. He is the founding bishop of the ACNA's Special Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy. He is also the executive director for the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. In December 2025 he was a founder of a new denomination known as the Anglican Reformed Catholic Church.
After reviewing what the ACNA called "multiple allegations of ecclesiastical abuse of power against Bishop Jones", the ACNA's archbishop, Steve Wood, on September 21, 2025, issued an admonition inhibiting Jones from ordained ministry. However, Jones claimed to Religion News Service that he had withdrawn from the ACNA on September 20 and, on September 22, that the JAFC's executive committee had issued a letter announcing that it had withdrawn the jurisdiction from the ACNA. In a recording of a video call with chaplains that the JAFC posted on YouTube, Jones denied that the allegations against him were legitimate, rejected Wood's ability to inhibit him and argued that the ACNA had delayed a purported revision to the canon establishing the SJAFC that would explicitly recognize a right to disaffiliate. The executive committee of the nonprofit organization he led, the similarly named Jurisdiction for the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy, said it had left the ACNA and that chaplains it endorsed would remain affiliated to Jones' organization.
Following a complaint filed by the JAFC against the ACNA in the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina alleging multiple unfair business practices by the ACNA, a JAFC spokesperson provided an FAQ document to members of the media claiming that Jones was the victim of "a targeted attack" by Wood and citing Jones' alleged criticism of "errors, missteps, and mismanagement within the Archbishop's office".