"The Episcopal Church is going to be there in partnership with the Diocese of Virginia to help bring healing in any way that we can, and to continue to remind everybody that we are engaged in larger mission," Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told ENS.

"If some people decide they need to go then our best recourse is to bless their journey and to remind people that the door will remain open and the porch light on," she said.

"God is going to lead this church forward in ministry," said Mr. Yates, whose congregation grew by 4 percent this year and whose budget rose 15 percent from $4.6 million for 2006 to $5.6 million in 2007. "This whole situation isn't about us. It's about the next generation and the next and the next ... For the sake of the children, we must be faithful to Christ."

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is saddened by any split from the church and will consult her advisers on how the denomination should respond, said Bob Williams, the national Episcopal spokesman.

Ninety percent of Falls Church parishioners and 92 percent of Truro members who cast ballots in the last week supported cutting ties with The Episcopal Church, parish leaders said Sunday.

Six other Virginia parishes are voting this month whether to leave.

East Windsor's other Episcopal parish, St John's Church in the town's Warehouse Point section, is not part of the regional ministry, according to officials.