Though LaBerge said congregations throughout the country are leaving PCUSA, she also urged attendees to find a way of working within their churches to promote change. She suggested those disenfranchised with their local church leadership try to take an active role in choosing church leaders.

A group of area Presbyterians dissatisfied with the Presbyterian Church (USA), which voted last year to allow the ordination of gay ministers, deacons and elders, discussed options Sunday for congregations that believe the governing body has strayed from the religion’s traditions.

Members of Concerned Presbyterians of the Low Country, a group comprised of members from several Beaufort County congregations, hosted speakers Sunday afternoon at a Beaufort hotel from the conservative Presbyterian Lay Committee, who explained potential options for church members who aren’t happy with the direction of the PCUSA but aren’t sure what to do about it.

A number of theologically conservative Presbyterian churches across the country have criticized the Louisville, Ky.,-based PCUSA, saying it departed from the religion’s traditions when it allowed the ordination of gays and lesbians.

Speaker Carmen Fowler LaBerge, president and executive editor of North Carolina-based The Layman, a publication of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, cited the recent vote to allow gay and lesbian ministers and lay leaders. The change gives regional church bodies the ability to decide for themselves.

This past Sunday, she told a crowd of about 100 this policy and a lack of “essential standards” in PCUSA will speed its decline. PCUSA has about 2.3 million members in the U.S., according to its website.

“This is a trend we’ve been walking toward for a number of years. The last year the Presbyterian Church grew was 1967,” LaBerge told a crowd of about 100. “It’s so much more than sex. Our view of Scripture has been undermined.”

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