Two dozen Lutheran congregations in Minnesota and Iowa have vowed to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America because of the denomination's decision in Minneapolis this summer to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy.

The 15 churches in Minnesota and nine in Iowa have decided join a new denomination called Lutheran CORE and leave the ELCA, the largest Lutheran denomination in the world.

The leaders of Lutheran CORE say the ELCA has moved too far away from the Bible.

“Many ELCA members and congregations have said that they want to sever ties with the ELCA because of the ELCA’s continued movement away from traditional Christian teachings,” the Reverend Paull Spring of State College, Pa., who chairs Lutheran CORE, said in a press statement reports, The Minnesota Independent. “The vote on sexuality opened the eyes of many to how far the ELCA has moved from Biblical teaching.”

The 24 Lutheran churches have signed the Common Confession of Lutheran CORE, which, according to The Iowa Independent, states, “We teach and practice that sexual activity belongs exclusively within the biblical boundaries of a faithful marriage between one man and one woman.”