[2] Palmer was born in the United Kingdom and moved to South Africa when he was 10 years old.
He and his wife maintained a website, called the Ark Community, which is described as "an internet-based, Inter-denominational Christian Convergent Community, drawing our spirituality from the 'Early Church' (33–600 AD), in particular, Celtic Christian spirituality.
"[3] On the Ark Community website he was known as "Father Tony Palmer" instead of using the style The Right Reverend or the title "bishop".
[4] Through this religious community, Palmer served as a bishop of the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches.
In January 2014, he was sent by Pope Francis to a charismatic conference hosted by televangelist Kenneth Copeland.