PORTERSVILLE — The Presbyterian Church of Portersville has made a formal split from its denomination.

That church was dismissed from the Beaver-Butler Presbytery at the end of November and will attempt to join the more conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

The Rev. Dana Opp of the Presbyterian Church of Portersville said theological disagreements with its former denomination, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), led them to seek dismissal.

"We appreciate the presbytery, we just had issues with the national church," Opp said.

Over the summer, the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) lifted a ban on gay ordination, encouraged church members to worship with Muslims and Jews and created a property litigation fund.

Those actions don't fit into the conservative view of the Portersville church, according to Opp.

"Those are issues we take exception to, including gay ordination," he said. "We've held with the biblical view."

The issue of sharing worship with Jews and Muslims is "tricky because how we look at God is very different," said Opp.

The congregation took issue with the property litigation question because the congregation has the main interest in church property.

"We would hope to settle those matters without litigation," Opp said.

In settling with the presbytery, the Portersville church agreed to pay $43,300 out of the church's assets, which have been appraised at $423,000.

The dismissal has been years in the making, according to Opp, but the national church's moves last summer made the move necessary.

Opp, who has been pastor for 11 years, said attendance has gone up at the church since the dismissal process became public knowledge. The congregation voted 115-3 to leave the presbytery. The church has 176 members, with an average age of 51.

"There are still steps to go, we need to prepare to be received into their denomination," he said of the Evangelical faith.

Opp said that process likely will take several weeks.

The Rev. Albert Stuart of Highland Presbyterian Church in Slippery Rock is the clerk of commission in the Beaver-Butler Presbytery.

Though he supports the church he describes as stable and highly conservative, Stuart said, "I think in this case we will miss them very greatly."

"In a lot of ways it was inevitable," he said. "But in my perspective, it's absolutely right."

Meanwhile, Stuart's church is among others in the region that share much of Portersville's views but will "stay and stand firm,"in the presbytery, according to Stuart.

Stuart and the Rev. Pat McElroy of Park Presbyterian Church in Zelienople have written a theological declaration pointing out errors of the general assembly.

"They are the same issues the Portersville church is upset about," said Stuart.

"The issues in question are fairly divisive," he added.

At the same meeting of the presbytery, which dismissed the Portersville church, commissioners voted 57-45 to have a task force rework the declaration from Stuart and McElroy.

That task force is being formed, and Stuart didn't know how long the reworking would take.

Stuart said he and his congregation are committed to staying in the Beaver-Butler Presbytery, which he describes as one of the most conservative in the nation.