The Uniting Church faces a possible split after it became the first mainstream Australian church to openly allow practising homosexuals to become ministers.
Dissenting members said the decision could prompt thousands of people to leave the church – Australia’s third-largest Christian denomination – and start a breakaway movement.
The Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church expressed “grave concern” at the move and warned that allowing homosexual ministers could threaten the merger of the two churches.
After two days of intense debate at its national assembly in Melbourne, the Uniting Church voted overwhelmingly to allow the ordination of practising homosexual ministers on a “case-by-case basis” by individual presbyteries.
Presbyteries are the church’s regional bodies.
Discussion was adjourned after an impassioned debate failed to end in consensus.
Evangelical Members of the Uniting Church (EMU) spokeswoman Mary Hawkes said the church was now “horribly close” to a split.
“People feel that they’ve lost integrity within this church,” she told reporters.
Ms Hawkes said a new church was one of “several options” disgruntled members would consider.
“If there’s going to be an exodus, my hope is it will be a mass exodus – I don’t want people going in dribs and drabs.”
Uniting Church president the Reverend Dr Dean Drayton said the decision simply confirmed what had been possible since 1997.
“It is inevitable when there is a disagreement that people will talk about division,” he said.
“We want our members to read what the proposal is, to see that nothing has changed for their congregation so that it is possible that they can see that we are clarifying the situation rather than doing something new.”
The Uniting Church already has a number of clergy who are gay, but until now the church has operated on a `don’t ask, don’t tell’ basis.
Lesbian and retired minister the Reverend Dr Dorothy McRae-McMahon said she felt proud to be part of a brave church, but acknowledged the pain of those who did not support the decision.
She urged those who had threatened to leave to think again.
“I say: please stay, we love you, we respect you and I want to talk to you … let’s just get to know each other,” she said.
Dr McRae-McMahon said she believed the decision would actually encourage people to join the church; people who were looking “for a place where people are asking the hard questions”.
The conservative Anglican Diocese of Sydney condemned the decision, saying church leaders should exemplify biblical teachings which state a sexual relationship should be expressed between a man and a woman in heterosexual marriage.
“Homosexual practice is incompatible with scripture,” said Bishop of Liverpool Peter Tasker.
Speaking on behalf of the Sydney Diocese, he warned the Uniting Church decision could influence merger discussions between the two denominations.
“Leaders in our churches should be above reproach,” he said in a statement.
The Anglican Church allows gay ministers, but they must be celibate.
The issue has recently split the Anglican church, with the Sydney Diocese black-listing three overseas dioceses after gay men were appointed as bishops in Britain and the United States.
The merger of the Uniting and Anglican churches came a step closer on Tuesday when the Uniting Church national assembly voted to approve steps to start the process.
But a Uniting Church spokesman said the decision on homosexuals would have “little impact” on merger discussions.
The church was formed in 1977 by a merger of the Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational churches.