The downward spiral of the Episcopal Church in the USA has continued as a local parish, St Andrew's-in-the-Pines, voted 145 to 67 (or 68 per cent) to separate from the national church and the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta.

The church's vestry, or governing board, subsequently voted to honour the parish's overwhelming desire to depart from the Episcopal Church led by controversial Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori.

The vestry also voted to join the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) - the US missionary branch of the Anglican Church of Nigeria - in order to maintain the parish's ties to the worldwide Anglican Communion.

"We simply want to continue to worship Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour in the way that we always have," one church member said after Sunday's vote. "The vast majority of us still have faith that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that Jesus is the one true Son of God, born of a virgin, crucified until dead, and then resurrected to life. All of that is contrary to what a majority of the Episcopal Church leadership believes. The authority of Scripture and the issue of Jesus as THE Saviour are important to us."