With five motions and five unanimous votes, a Presbyterian Church (USA) presbytery lost five congregations from its rolls — losing almost a third of its membership. But, according to its leaders, those that stay and those that leave will keep a common bond.

The Presbytery of Mississippi voted without dissent to approve the request of the congregations – representing about 1,400 members—to leave the PCUSA and join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), leaving 37 churches with a total of about 2,900 members.

The disaffected churches say the PCUSA no longer supports the authority of Scripture when making denominational decisions on issues like same-sex marriage, ordination standards and the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

The presbytery agreed to dismiss the First Presbyterian churches of Vicksburg, Pascagoula, Ocean Springs, Port Gibson and Yokena Presbyterian Church of Vicksburg.

Although churches have been leaving the PCUSA in greater numbers over the past decade, the exodus began to mushroom after the 2011 passage of Amendment 10A and new Form of Government.

The amendment deleted the explicit “fidelity/chastity” requirement from the constitutional ordination standard, and now allows the PCUSA to ordain noncelibate gay people as deacons, elders and pastors.

The new Form of Government (nFOG) has raised concerns that the PCUSA may become more hierarchical and less connectional, as well as becoming more universalistic in theology.

“Weightier theological tenets like the authority and inspiration of Scripture, the divinity of Jesus Christ, and salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone have long been the points of great pressure at the seam of the PCUSA,” Ocean Springs Senior Pastor Scott Castleman wrote to his congregation earlier this year.

Unlike some PCUSA presbyteries, which have expelled pastors and filed lawsuits [Editor’s note: Original URLs (links) referenced are no longer valid, so the links have been removed.] against churches seeking to leave, Mississippi has opted to make the process friendlier, officials say.

“Everyone was trying to maintain a positive outlook. Parting is not easy, but the determination was expressed by many people that we want to stay in relationship with one another,” Mississippi Stated Clerk Michael Herrin said. Herrin is also the pastor of FPC-Port Gibson and stated supply of Yokena.

The presbytery made no claim on the churches’ property nor did it seek payment of per-capita funds or other offerings. By contrast, the Presbytery of Tropical Florida agreed to the dismissal of nine churches and almost a third of its membership last week, but, under its dismissal policy, required payment of at least $500,000 over the next few years.

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[Editor’s note: Some of the original URLs (links) referenced in this article are no longer valid, so the links have been removed.]