The Presbyterian Church (USA) is closer than ever before to allowing gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender clergy to serve its churches as presbyteries voting in favor of the change are currently in the majority.

The PC(USA)'s 173 regional presbyteries are now voting on whether to accept the measure which changes paragraph G-6.0106b in the group's Book of Order stating that clergy must "live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness."

The amendment was approved last July at the PC(USA)'s 219th General Assembly by a narrow 373-323 vote. In the subsequent vote now being conducted by the presbyteries, 48 presbyteries have voted in favor of the amendment and 34 have opposed the change. In order for the amendment to take effect, at least 50 percent of the presbyteries must vote favorably.

Notably, presbyteries in states like Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma have changed their votes since the last time the issue was brought to a vote in 2009.

"So far, the majority of Presbyterians are voting to return to the tradition of rooting ordination in a person's call from God and their gifts to engage in ministry," said the Rev. Janet Edwards, co-moderator of More Light Presbyterians, an LGBT caucus within PC(USA). "Finally, we may allow faithful and qualified LGBT Presbyterians to serve the church with energy, intelligence, imagination and love."

"Presbyterians take great care in how we live together in our denomination. The repeated votes on ordination standards and a commitment to the process shows how strongly we believe that the offices of the Church are called discern the mind of Christ and will of God for the PC(USA)," said the Rev, Bruce Reyes-Chow, moderator of the group's 2008 Assembly. "The consistent movement toward dropping all exclusionary policies tells us that God is still calling the church to its highest calling-the call to love God and neighbor."

Meanwhile, more conservative Presbyterians are taking action against the PC(USA)'s liberal sway and have made some strong proposals for change within the group.

Among the proposals is the creation of a new "Fellowship" within the church that conservative leaders say will eventually have its own presbyteries and may incorporate Presbyterians outside of the PC(USA).

The proposals were made in an open letter to the denomination issued earlier this month, which was signed by a group of 45 PC(USA) pastors, many of them from some of the churches largest congregations.

"To say the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is deathly ill is not editorializing but acknowledging reality," the group said. "Over the past year, a group of PC(USA) pastors has become convinced that to remain locked in unending controversy will only continue a slow demise, dishonor our calling, and offer a poor legacy to those we hope will follow us."

Regarding homosexual ordination, the pastors pointed to the issue as the "flashpoint of controversy" in the church for the last 35 years while adding that the issue "masks deeper, more important divisions within the PC(USA)."

"Our divisions revolve around differing understandings of Scripture, authority, Christology, the extent of salvation amidst creeping universalism, and a broader set of moral issues," they wrote.

"There is no longer common understanding of what is meant by being 'Reformed,'" the letter says. "Indeed, many sense that the only unity we have left is contained in the property clause and the pension plan."