The United Church of Christ general synod passed a resolution last week endorsing same-sex marriages.

This makes the United Church of Christ the first mainline Christian denomination to officially support same-sex marriages said Michael Schuenemeyer, minister for LGBT Ministries in the church's national office in Cleveland. He said he didn't know of any other mainline denomination that encourages same-sex marriage.

With the recent endorsement from the church, at least one branch will pull away from the denomination, but Rev. Beth Grimshaw said her church will continue to hold same-sex marriages. Her church, Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ, is located at 125 S. Pennsylvania Ave. in Lansing.

"Our church welcomes all persons regardless of race, creed or sexuality," Grimshaw said. "As a denomination, that is what we hold to be a belief in the eyes of God."

Grimshaw said she has been ordained for six years and that her church also ordains gay and lesbian ministers. She also said the debate of same-sex marriage in the church is understandable.

"The Bible is open to a lot of interpretations," she said. "To take the word literally, you are in danger of misinterpreting."

But Rev. J.R. McAliley, pastor of Center Congregational Church in Atlanta, disagrees.

"You can't give me anything in the Bible that says same-sex marriage is not a sin," he said.

McAliley said he will continue to welcome anyone to his church but will not encourage same-sex marriages.

"Jesus did associate with sinners but he didn't endorse their behavior," he said. "He expects people to address their sins and sin no more, not encourage us to do what we know is a sin."

He said the church will separate from the United Church of Christ and will re-align with the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches.

"We are pulling away from the United Church because they are moving away from its promise of keeping Jesus as its center," he said. "As a church, we don't endorse behavior that is not Christian and same-sex marriage is not Christian behavior and we cannot continue on with the UCC."

Schuenemeyer said it's sad when a church decides to leave but he is not worried about the future of the church.

"It's like losing a member of the family and we hate to see it happen," he said. "But since the vote on Monday, we received over 22,000 hits on our 'find a church' link on our Web site."

Schuenemeyer also said the resolution that was passed does not mean all United Churches have to agree with the national church.

"The resolution is intended to encourage same-sex marriage in the United Churches," he said. "Other Christian denominations would have resolutions that would be binding but the United Church is autonomous. The national church speaks to the local churches but we don't speak for them."

The Rev. Thomas Orth of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Alpena, Mich., said his congregation remains neutral on the issue.

"Our church as a whole has not taken a position on this," he said. "Personally I am in favor of same-sex marriage but as a church we have not engaged in a deep biblical study on the subject."