Same-sex marriages split denomination

Some churches are sticking around to fight the policy.
TOLEDO (AP) -- When the last votes were counted, some members of Pilgrim United Church of Christ hugged and applauded the decision to end their 45-year affiliation with the denomination. Others wiped away tears and walked out in protest.
The United Church of Christ's endorsement of same-sex marriage -- a lone stance among the largest Christian denominations -- has stirred debate and divided dozens of its churches. Some have stopped sending money to the church's national office; others have left the denomination.
"It has caused people to really think hard about their faith," said the Rev. Stephen Camp, administrator of the church's Southern Conference, which includes North Carolina and eastern Virginia.
"I think we're on the right side of history," said the Rev. Mr. Camp, who backs the denomination's position. "We're seeking to be faithful to what Jesus Christ is saying, that we should all be one."
The Cleveland-based church has a tradition of support for gays and lesbians, in 1972 becoming the first major Christian church to ordain an openly gay minister.
The other side
Some conservative congregations, however, were angered by a UCC television advertising campaign that started about a year ago to reach out to gays. Some of those same conservatives say leaders of the church crossed the line this time by supporting same sex-marriage.
Same-sex marriage "isn't what we preach, it isn't what we teach, it isn't what we believe," said the Rev. Lawrence Cameron, the pastor at Pilgrim UCC.
It's not clear how many churches have left since the denomination's rule-making body in July endorsed gay marriage. The UCC puts the number at 49 while a group opposed to the stand on marriage says at least 77 churches have withdrawn.
And although either number represents just a fraction of the denomination's 5,725 churches, the same-sex marriage issue has sparked debate and divisiveness in many more congregations, especially conservative ones in the South and Midwest.
"The leadership knew this would divide the church up and down, inside and out," said the Rev. Bryan Moore of Shepherd of the Hills Church in Bechtelsville, Pa. "How could they not know that?"
Stay or go?
Members of the church in eastern Pennsylvania have spent time at retreats debating whether to remain in the denomination and fight against the same-sex marriage policy or start anew. For now, they won't give any money to the denomination, sending it to orphanages or other charities instead, the Rev. Mr. Moore said.
"We're just not going to support a direction that we feel is away from the Bible and away from the direction of where the people in the pews are at," he said. "There's so many churches that are in the process of weighing this."
Members of the Bradford Congregational Church in Zephyrhills, Fla., voted to leave the denomination within a month of the same-sex marriage endorsement. "As soon as I got back to my church, they met me at the door," said the Rev. James Owens, who attended the UCC's meeting in Atlanta where the gay marriage resolution was approved.
UCC leaders, he said, should have surveyed the churches before voting on such an important decision. "If you go to the congregations you'll find them to be much more conservative than the denomination," he said.
The Rev. Mr. Owens said his church is open and welcoming, but its members believe that Scripture clearly says marriage is between one man and one woman.
"Don't misunderstand me, we love gay people," said Leatha Stone, 78, a member of the church. "We just don't think they should be married."
Fighting
Some churches are sticking around to fight.
About 30 churches are part of a group called Faithful and Welcoming Churches of the United Church of Christ. They plan to meet next month at regional meetings to discuss their strategy.
"By emerging from obscurity, we can affect the agenda of the national church," said the Rev. Bob Thompson of Corinth Reformed Church in Hickory, N.C. "Christians that differ should be able to stay together and work together."
His church is waiting until November to vote on staying or leaving.
"We didn't raise this issue," he said. "We responded to it because I don't think passivity is the right response."
United Church of Christ leaders say they grieve the loss of any church. They add that most of the churches that left were distancing themselves from the denomination in recent years, including some that had been withholding money from the national office.
The church says 23 new congregations joined last year, some because of the gay-marriage decision.
That issue, though, does not define the denomination, said Barb Powell, a spokeswoman for the UCC, which has 1.3 million members.
"We knew that going in there was going to be a need for broad discussion," she said. "I don't think it's really a distraction. One issue won't shape any denomination -- ours or another."