By a vote of 195-4, Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church in Mt. Lebanon has decided to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) with the intention of joining a more theologically conservative Presbyterian body.

"I think it is a fairly clear and compelling voice, which is what the presbytery asked for and what the congregation has given the presbytery," said the Rev. Rick Wolling, pastor of the congregation, which voted at a 6 p.m. closed meeting yesterday.

"I didn't go to seminary to do this. It's hard. And yet I think there's a real strength and joy in doing a hard thing that we believe God is calling us to do."

The vote, which took place with four observers from Pittsburgh Presbytery present, does not end the matter. The congregation will continue working with a presbytery negotiating team to come up with a proposal for Beverly Heights to keep its building, in exchange for what the presbytery calls "a substantial mission gift."

That proposal, with the yet-to-be-decided figures, will be presented to the June 6 presbytery meeting. It will be discussed at that meeting, but not voted on until the September meeting.

The motion the congregation voted on was to "be dismissed, with property, no later than Sept. 6," the Rev. Wolling said.

He acknowledged that money would be a major issue in negotiations. His congregation currently owes the presbytery $72,000 which it has withheld over the past seven years or so because it could not support the direction of the national church, he said.

Jay Lewis, stated clerk of Pittsburgh Presbytery, was one of the observers. Presbytery representatives had spoken to the congregation on April 15 in an effort to persuade them to stay but did not speak last night, he said.

"We were pleased by the formality with which the vote was taken, and with the open and above-board practices in the meeting," he said. "The presbytery and Beverly Heights have each expressed their sadness at the end point of the vote."

Beverly Heights has long been known as perhaps the most conservative congregation in Pittsburgh Presbytery, which is itself one of the more conservative presbyteries in the denomination.

Although debates over gay ordination and gay marriage get the most attention in the divided denomination, the Rev. Wolling said those were not what spurred the decision to leave. He said he believes the denomination has turned from classical Trinitarian theology and from belief that Jesus is the divine son of God and sole savior of humanity.

Presbytery leaders who tried to persuade the congregation to stay have argued that those doctrines are intact but under attack, he said.

"We have a problem with a denomination where those things are under attack. It's been going on for a long time," the Rev. Wolling said.

A prayer meeting was held before the congregational meeting, which began and ended with hymn's asking for God's guidance.

Before the meeting, the congregation and the presbytery had agreed that the active membership of the church, which normally claims about 400 members, was actually 267, the Rev. Wolling said. The presbytery required that 70 percent of active members attend the meeting, and that 75 percent of those vote for separation in order for the presbytery to even consider letting them keep their property.

Church law, which Pennsylvania courts have historically upheld, says the property belongs to the denomination.

Beverly Heights is part of the New Wineskins Association of Churches, theologically conservative congregations in the Presbyterian Church (USA). That group has developed a proposal for congregations that wish to leave the denomination to affiliate with the much smaller Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church will not be able, however, to approve that plan until its own June meeting, when it will vote on a proposal to create a non-geographical transitional presbytery for incoming congregations from the more liberal body.

Although it is his intention to seek affiliation with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, "I've not had one word of conversation with the EPC yet," the Rev. Wolling said.

Lisa Boyd, a member from Upper St. Clair who the congregation had supported when she was a missionary to Slovenia, said she believed leaving was "most definitely" the right decision.

"I feel it is the decision that is best in line with our faith and the path that Jesus would want us to take," she said.