Members of North Augusta's St. John's Episcopal Church severed ties with the national congregation Sunday, rejecting a shift toward a more progressive theology that has led to the blessing of same-sex marriages and gay leaders in the church.

They are now calling themselves the Church of the Holy Trinity and are aligned with the Anglican Church in North America, an alliance created in December that presents itself as a conservative alternative to the Episcopal Church.

To avoid a legal dispute with the Diocese of Upper South Carolina, the Holy Trinity congregants abandoned the St. John's sanctuary on Belvedere-Clearwater Road and will hold their first service next Sunday in a converted warehouse near Interstate 20.

Most of the 90-member St. John's congregation agreed to follow the Rev. Rob Hartley when he and church staff announced their resignations Sunday.

"We're ready to go. I just have to pack my briefcase," he said. "We'll collect the keys and hand them to the bishop. With just the exception of a few, one or two, we're all making the switch."

Bishop Dorsey F. Henderson could not be reached for comment Sunday.

The Rev. Hartley said his decision to leave the church is more than 18 months in the making.

"I went to see my bishop. I wasn't at home in the Episcopal Church anymore," he said. "I had been an Episcopalian my whole life -- 60 years -- but the Episcopalian Church was going to a place I didn't want to go."

The consecration of an openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, in 2003 marked a turning point in church theology, the Rev. Hartley said.

"The Episcopal Church has come to the decision to become a progressive church, both theologically and socially," he said.

He came to St. John's six years ago. He's a second-career pastor, ordained in 2003.

While some churches are subsidized by the diocese, he says members of St. John's paid his salary. He will lose his pension with the Episcopal Church, and it will probably be a year or two until Holy Trinity can pay him.

The congregation could eventually receive support from the newly formed Anglican Church in North America. While no official tally tracks how many parishes have left the Episcopal Church, the splinter denomination says it represents 700 congregations and about 100,000 Anglicans.

The denomination, formed by seven American bishops, has not been recognized as an alternative to the Episcopal Church. The Anglican Communion, including the Episcopal Church, has yet to approve it as a province.

"I suspect it will take a while, but we'll be embraced by the Anglican Communion," the Rev. Hartley said. "In my own mind, I don't feel like I'm moving. I feel like the Episcopal Church has moved out from under me."

Reach Kelly Jasper at (706) 823-3552 or kelly.jasper@augustachronicle.com.