Hendersonville, TN parish goes in 40 days of discernment :: The Tennessean

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Members of Hendersonville's St. Joseph of Arimathea Episcopal Church will spend 40 days and 40 nights praying for an answer to an issue confronting Episcopalians everywhere.

They must decide if they will remain members of a denomination they believe has strayed from core beliefs based on their reading of the Bible, or break away and join the much larger Anglican Communion.

"We have reached a point at which many of our parishioners feel they can no longer continue in the Episcopal church, even in an orthodox parish in what has been a safe diocese," wrote the Rev. Patrick Allen in the church's February parish newsletter....
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At All Saints' Episcopal Church in Smyrna, members moved out of their church altogether rather than face litigation.
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While property ownership probably will be addressed at some point, foremost on the minds of church members — about 90 attend most Sundays — is making a prayerful, thoughtful decision on where their church is headed.

The parish is in the Diocese of Tennessee. Patrick Allen has announced his resignation effect July 2007.