The first vote was 538 to leave the ELCA and 48 to stay, an assistant to the Rev. Paul Ulring said.
The next vote must be at least 90 days later and probably will be held this fall.
Before then, Bishop Callon W. Holloway Jr., leader of the Southern Ohio Synod, will meet with the 5,000-member church to hear questions or concerns. He will not try to persuade them to stay, though that is his desire.
“I will respect their decisions” and support their ministries, he said.
Two other churches in the synod have been through both their first and second votes, Holloway said.
Faith Lutheran, north of Cincinnati in Finneytown, has left. St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran, near Dayton in Fairborn, did not.
via UA church votes to quit the ELCA | The Columbus Dispatch.