Lutherans may soon face decisions on whether to join a new church body.

The Associated Press reported last week that Lutheran CORE leaders will begin forming a new denomination.

Core Chair Pastor Paull Spring, who was pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church in Pleasant Township from 1967 to 1976 and then served as bishop of the Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod, said the process for leaving the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is complicated.

Two rounds of voting spread over 90 days must both reach a two-thirds majority for a congregation to leave, Spring explained.

While there are several issues driving CORE to leave, Spring said the critical one was the ELCA's decision at its annual convention in August to bless same-sex unions and to allow pesons in such unions to serve in the ministry.

Other related issues include how one interprets the Bible, Spring said, and whether it has ethical norms for human behavior.

The Rev. David Blank, pastor of First Lutheran Church in Warren, said his congregation as a whole has been patient with the process and wants to abide by what the national church is doing.

A rift has grown in the church, Spring said, over social questions which are perceived as issues on the left.

It came to a point in August, Spring said, when people asked, "What have we done? This is something the church has never said before."

The Rev. Mark Fischer, pastor of Youngsville Saron Lutheran and Pittsfield Berea Lutheran churches, said churchgoers and pastors all have different positions.

"I was not in favor of the decisions made, but I'm not choosing to leave the church," he said. "I think schism is too easy."

Blank said for him it's best to always err on the side of love instead of judgment.

An overwhelming number of Christians do not approve of what the ELCA endorsed, Spring said, leading to a "massive firestorm of negative reaction."

No congregations in the county will leave the ELCA, Fischer said, and have decided to remain together despite their differences.

The decisions have left some pastors wondering about leaving the ministry, Spring said, and some students in seminaries wondering whether to continue their studies.

Fischer said it is not the first time the church has made questionable decisions and would not be the last.

CORE has not yet broken with the ELCA, Spring said, explaining that it is just a movement which allows congregations to belong to both groups.

By the time of the next ELCAl convention in August 2010, however, Spring said CORE believes it will have to form a church to give people a place to go who choose to leave the ELCA.

Those who stay are free to teach traditional understandings of scripture, Fischer said, and are not compelled to contradict their own consciences.

Congregations don't have to hire pastors whose lifestyle they disagree with, Blank said, adding that he hopes as time goes along the church becomes more open-minded.