Plano Texas Decides to Leave ECUSA

PLANO, Texas ---- Christ Church Episcopal states it will leave the denomination because it opposes the national direction of the church.

The conservative Plano parish announced its plan Monday, a week after the Episcopal General Convention rejected demands from fellow Anglicans overseas and conservatives at home that they stop consecrating gay bishops for now. Delegates instead voted to call for restraint in future elections.

The convention also chose a new presiding bishop, Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who voted in 2003 to confirm V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the first openly gay bishop, and supports creating prayer services to bless same-gender couples.

"The mission of Christ Church is to make disciples and teach them to obey the commands of Christ," Christ Church leaders said in a statement. "The direction of the leadership of the Episcopal Church is different and we regret their departure from biblical truth and the historic faith of the Anglican Communion. ... We declare our intention to disassociate from ECUSA as soon as possible."

A spokesman for the Episcopal Church did not respond to a request for comment. The denomination is the U.S. branch of the global Anglican Communion.

The Plano church is one of the largest Episcopal churches in the nation, drawing about 2,200 worshippers each weekend to the Dallas suburb.

Under Episcopal rules, parishes cannot take their property when they leave. But Dallas Bishop James Stanton, who also opposed Robinson's consecration, said he intends to allow the congregation to continue using the building.

The Rev. David Roseberry, Christ Church pastor, said specifics of how the parish will leave the denomination will be decided in the coming weeks. Christ Church said it still regards the Dallas bishop as its "apostolic leader."

[Note: Well, I guess we will miss them. :( A church here in our own diocese of Kansas also pulled the plug several months ago. Christ Church (coincidentally the same name) in Overland Park, Kansas decided they could not work with the way things are going either, so they decided to pull out. Overland Park is a suburb of Kansas City, MO. A lot of us in the southeastern part of the state refer to the Johnson County area (OP and other Kansas suburbs of KC metro) look at that whole part of the state as Marshmallow land. PAT]