This year, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Oak Harbor celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Today, it no longer exists.

The buildings are still there on Regatta Drive in Oak Harbor, and the congregation of some 115 people remains the same. But it’s now St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, it’s no longer affiliated with the Episcopal Church USA, and there’s a real chance the congregation will lose its property in Oak Harbor because of its decision.

Impetus for the change came last year, when the Episcopal Church USA installed its first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in New Hampshire. That created a rift between conservative congregations like St. Stephen’s and more liberal congregations that accept gay leadership in the church.

That rift is hardly limited to Oak Harbor. Throughout the U.S., conservative churches are leaving the Episcopal Church USA to join the more conservative worldwide Anglican communion. All are derived from the Church of England.

Where St. Stephen’s once answered to an Episcopal bishop in the Diocese of Olympia, its Anglican bishop is now in Brazil. “Thank God for the Internet,” said The Rev. Carol Harlacher with a smile.

Harlacher, rector at St. Stephen’s since 2000, said her Oak Harbor congregation started withholding money from the diocese after Bishop Robinson was installed, and just this Tuesday announced that is has joined the Anglican Communion Network, a worldwide organization.

“Most of the worldwide communion is biblical and conservative,” Harlacher said, adding that “we’ve always been Anglican — the American church is called Episcopalian, but we’ve never not been Anglican.”

Harlacher said the dispute involves more than just a gay bishop. That apparently was the final straw in several decades of changes that have disturbed conservative congregations. “It’s about accountability and leadership,” she said. “We were no longer accountable to our teachings.”

Today’s Episcopal Church isn’t what it used to be, said Harlacher, who has been a priest for 13 years, after serving in church music ministry for 25 years. “We’re still grounded in scripture, it’s the denomination that has departed from that,” she said. “They’ve traded off to an unaccountable soft love that says there isn’t even sin.”

Harlacher said St. Stephen’s parishoners voted overwhelmingly Oct. 10 to disassociate from the Episcopal Church USA. She and Jack Ryan, senior warden, met Bishop Vincent Warner, head of the Diocese of Olympia, on Tuesday. Also present were representatives from St. Charles Church in Poulsbo, which also broke away.

Bishop Warner stated in an Oct. 19 news release, “I am saddened that two congregations served by two priests that I love and support have chosen to take this action . . . I am firmly committed to reconciliation. I hope they give this some more time and thought.”

But the decision appears to be final. On Thursday, people at the Oak Harbor church were talking about what will happen if their worst case scenario occurs — if the St. Stephen’s congregation loses its church property.

“People are talking about buying a barn,” Harlacher said. But there’s been no official response from the diocese.

The diocese maintains it owns the church property in Oak Harbor, according to Dr. Peter Strimer, diocese communications director. “All churches are owned in trust by the diocese,” he told the News-Times Thursday. “But we’re not taking any legal action at this point.”

Strimer said Bishop Warner plans to continue efforts to bring St. Stephen’s back into the Episcopal fold, an effort that will include a visit to Whidbey Island. “We’re going to give it some time,” he said. “His is a ministry of dialogue and reconciliation.”

The move by St. Stephen’s means there is only one Episcopal church left on Whidbey Island, that being St. Augustine’s In-the-Woods in Freeland. The rector there, the Rev. Nigel Taber-Hamilton, said Friday that the Oak Harbor church property does indeed belong to the diocese, but he doesn’t want to see it immediately taken away from the Oak Harbor congregation.

“I hope some accommodation can be made as a sign of generosity,” Taber-Hamilton said. He suggests a nominal rental fee of $10 a month for the church property, perhaps for 10 to 15 years, after which time the congregation could return to the Episcopal Church USA or buy the property at market value.

Taber-Hamilton described himself as “saddened” by the decision by St. Stephen’s to leave the Episcopal Church, but he said the Oak Harbor church has grown more “charismatic” since Harlacher took over. As a result, he said, “there’s been a steady stream of Episcopalians flowing down the island,” to St. Augustine’s, while others attend Lutheran churches in Oak Harbor and Freeland.

Taber-Hamilton said he and the board at St. Augustine’s have no problem with gay bishops or priests in the Episcopal church. “I welcome it, personally,” he said. “And the board does too. It’s a non-issue.”

According to Taber-Hamilton, changing times change how the Bible should be understood. “Biblical interpretation has changed with the modern understanding of biblical text,” he said.

Harlacher said her congregation is prepared to leave its five lots and three main church buildings if necessary, even though all was bought, built, and maintained by the congregation. She said a conservative Episcopal congregation in Kentucky walked away from its buildings and a $250,000 bank account over the same issues.

She sees it as the cost of remaining faithful to scripture. “It’s been easy to be a Christian,” she said. “What is the cost of staying faithful? We’re willing to walk away tomorrow if we have to.”