Largest Presbyterian church in Pa. district votes to leave

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Members of the largest church in the Pittsburgh Presbyterian district have voted to leave the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for a more biblically conservative denomination.

Members of the Memorial Park Presbyterian Church in McCandless Township voted 664-25 in favor of the move last weekend. The church has 1,675 members. Leaders said the number of voters reflects typical Sunday attendance. The congregation plans to join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

Like other mainline Protestant groups, Presbyterians have been debating for decades how they should interpret Scripture on salvation, truth, homosexuality and other issues.

More than two dozen of the nearly 11,000 congregations in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have voted to leave the national church since the denomination’s national assembly in 2006.

Delegates at the gathering granted new leeway in some cases to sidestep a church requirement that clergy and lay officers limit sex to man-woman marriage.

The Rev. Doug Portz, acting pastor of the Pittsburgh Presbytery, called this past weekend’s votes “unconstitutional.” Memorial Park is seeking to hold onto its property despite the split.

It is the second Allegheny County church to recently leave the presbytery, following Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church.