North Palm Beach church may split from Presbyterian group that OK'd gay clergy

From Florida-

First Presbyterian Church of North Palm Beach tonight will begin discussing whether it should split from the Presbyterian USA group, which recently approved openly gay clergy and lay leaders, and join another Presbyterian group, which does not.

First Presbyterian has about 1,100 members, among them golf legend Jack Nicklaus and former GE head Jack Welch.

Ken Kirby, one of the members that organized the meeting at the church, said that it would be oversimplifying to reduce the decision to the issue of gay clergy. He is part of a growing group of Presbyterians who feel that the Presbyterian Church USA has taken a radical step away from traditional beliefs.

In July, Presbyterian Church USA put in place a "new form of government."

Also this year, it allowed the first openly gay clergy to take the pulpit. The change was approved by a majority of the church's regional bodies in May and was the source of a fierce debate inside the 2.8 million-member denomination.

The Presbyterians follow the Episcopal, Evangelical Lutherans and the United Church of Christ as the fourth mainline Protestant denomination to allow gay ordination.

But they also risk the schism that resulted after 2003, when the Episcopal Church allowed an openly gay man to serve as a bishop in New Hampshire. The worldwide Anglican-Episcopal community was rocked by dissension and many have distanced themselves from the American Episcopal organization.

More here-

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/north-palm-beach-church-may-split-from-presbyterian-2002607.html