Washington Presbytery has put forth a plan to resolve property issues with a Peters church that voted Sunday to break ties with the Presbyterian Church (USA), but presbytery leaders say they are prepared to go to court if forced to.

At a presbytery meeting Tuesday in Eighty Four, support was offered to the minority at Peters Creek Presbyterian Church who had opposed the break and who are now seeking to be declared "the true church."

The meeting ended with the 80 ministers and elders gathered around six from the minority, laying hands on them in prayer and singing Amazing Grace. No one from the majority attended.

The Rev. David Bleivik, the general presbyter, said that if a court battle becomes necessary over church property, the denomination might provide financial aid.

"On every level we have sought to avoid legal action in accordance with [the biblical book of] Corinthians ... But if we are forced to defend the just side of this, we will prevail. I have no doubt," he said.

"I have a deep place in my heart for the loyal minority because of what they have been through and how they have been treated."

Ray Peterson, a spokesman for the Peters Creek leadership, said later that the presbytery's declarations were irrelevant because his congregation was no longer part of the PCUSA. He has previously said he believes the majority will receive a fairer, faster hearing in civil court than from the presbytery.

"The reason we disaffiliated from the PCUSA is so we did not have to contend with specious motions and initiatives from the Washington Presbytery," he said.

Peters Creek was part of a group of churches in the PCUSA whose members believe the denomination tolerates conspicuous dissent on such core doctrines as salvation through Christ alone and on sexual ethics, particularly gay relationships. Other evangelicals in the PCUSA, including Mr. Bleivik, believe that while such dissent is troubling, it has not changed the denomination's official commitment to traditional Christian doctrine.

On Sept. 9, Peters Creek voted 273-86 to ask Washington Presbytery to dismiss it to the more conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church, since joining another Presbyterian body opened the possibility that the presbytery would let the congregation keep its property. But, frustrated because the presbytery was holding hearings to determine which group was the true church, Peters Creek members voted 207-26 Sunday to leave the denomination without presbytery permission. The majority is now part of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and the property is in dispute.

The plan presented Tuesday calls for each side to submit a proposal for distribution of the property to the presbytery's administrative commission by Dec. 20. Each side has the opportunity to respond to the other, and to present its case to the commission. The process would culminate Feb. 19 at a presbytery meeting to consider how the property should be distributed.

"We are prepared to take other, sterner measures," said the Rev. Charles Perrine, chairman of the administrative commission. "We are still trying to take a pastoral response."