Louisville, USA - The threat of churches departing from the Louisville-based Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has become so serious that leaders have issued a letter asking them to stay.
At least eight churches have left since last summer's General Assembly, which opened the door to possible ordinations of homosexuals and voted to receive, though not endorse, a report that recommends feminine and other unconventional language for the divine Trinity.
The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the clerk of the denomination who wrote the letter to other congregations, said the level of dissatisfaction with the church is disconcerting.
"There's no question that the vast majority of Presbyterian churches are going to stay in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)," Kirkpatrick said, "(but) I think any exodus is too many."
Leaders of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, based in Livonia, Mich., are working with a group of conservatives within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), the New Wineskins Association of Churches, to develop a strategy for churches looking to make a move.
The departing churches are few compared to the more than 11,000 in the denomination, but they include some large and historic congregations. Several plan to join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, which is preparing for as many as 100 such applications. None are in the Louisville area.
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church, formed in 1981, has received individual congregations in the past, but this would be a larger, more systematic effort to receive new churches. The new presbytery would need approval from the Evangelical Presbyterian Church's own General Assembly.
Paul Heidebrecht, moderator of the Evangelical group, said his church has a "sense of camaraderie" with dissenting members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A).
"We've deliberately not recruited or approached anyone on our own," Heidebrecht said. "We're in many ways on the same page. We're trying to prepare for the possibility of many more churches approaching us in the next couple of years."