St. John's members bolt Episcopal flock

By Kelly Jasper
Staff Writer
Monday, January 05, 2009

During services at St. John's Episcopal Church on Sunday, the Rev. Rob Hartley told his congregation he would resign and start a new 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. the rest