The congregation, with an average attendance of about 110 people, has contemporary worship services -- no pews, prayer books or pipe organs. But it adheres to traditional scriptural interpretations, and is in "impaired communion" with the diocese, said its minister, the Rev. Martin Gornik.

The Lexington parish is the second parish to publicly challenge Sauls. Saint John's Church in Versailles split in January after diocesan leaders dismissed that church's governing board.

Earlier this month, the church's governing board voted unanimously to join the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes -- a national group which claims the Episcopal Church has abandoned "the historic faith of the Bible."

Yesterday, at the diocese's annual convention, Gornik and four members of his congregation declined to take bread and wine which Sauls had consecrated. They sat in silence while others went forward.

"Clearly, this is an unusual thing," Sauls said afterward.

The impaired communion capped a day that featured diocesan elections, a worship service and a brief debate about marriage for gays.

Asked whether he thinks Apostles will leave the Episcopal Church, Sauls said he doubts that will happen, but added, "It certainly is a possibility that can't be ruled out."

Gornik said the congregation is committed to the Anglican tradition.

But locally, Apostles will continue to dissent "until there is a change in direction by the leadership of the diocese." Relations have been strained since Sauls voted to approve the election of Robinson, a Lexington native, as bishop of New Hampshire.

"It is serious and grievous that our diocese cannot affirm what we understand to be basic and central teachings of the faith," Gornik said.

Sauls said he respects Gornik and hopes the relationship will be restored.

"I do not consider myself in impaired communion with them in any way," he said. "But I respect the fact that they see the relationship as impaired from their perspective."

In recent weeks, Episcopal leaders have downplayed the importance of correctly interpreting scripture.

The Episcopal bishop of Virginia, Peter James Lee, recently told his diocese's annual convention: "If you must make a choice between heresy and schism, always choose heresy."

Sauls put it differently. Saying that "Scripture is full of logical inconsistencies," he told his annual convention Friday that "when it comes to family, how I love matters more than how I think."

Loving each other, Sauls told the convention, "matters more than how many other commandments, laws or rules I can quote or how many specks I can see in the eyes of others while ignoring the log in my own."

Gornik said he can't support efforts "to revise and change what has been understood as traditional and historic teachings of the church, based on scripture."

Since founding Church of the Apostles in 1996, "We have taught, preached, discipled and formed people in the orthodox traditions of the church. That's who we are."

In other convention business:

• A resolution opposing marriages for gay couples in the church, tabled by the convention's resolutions committee, remained off the agenda -- despite protests from some deputies. Lay deputies voted 54-46 not to debate the issue now, siding with a resolutions committee which Sauls had appointed. Clergy voted 19-7 to delay the discussion.

• The convention voted to oppose the death penalty for juvenile offenders and to increase assistance to Haiti.

• Deputies approved a resolution praising Sauls' "perseverance, wisdom and visionary leadership."