MUNSTER, Ind.--Decline in mainline protestant denominations hit home for the First United Presbyterian Church of Gary, Ind. whose building may be sold for $5.

According to a report in the Post-Tribune, the church is financially bereft and losing membership. Delegates for Northern Indiana member churches voted to explore survival options but said the church will likely lose the big building no matter what, because its small membership cannot support it.

Presbytery Executor Sue Berry said the structure "was built for 1,500 to 2,000 members, not 80."

In fact the Gary church has only 60-70 members, many who are sick or homebound and do not attend worship.

Shortages not only in membership, but in leadership as well have hit mainline Protestant denominations hard, according to a report from the Louisville Courier-Journal.

In the Presbyterian Church (USA), one in three churches is without a permanent pastor -- meaning approximately 4,000 churches rely on substitutes or lay leaders. In at least two other denominations -- the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Reformed Church in America -- one in five congregations lacks a permanent pastor, The Courier-Journal reported.

Some blame theological and social issues quarrels for mainline decline. When the Espiscopal Church USA, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the United Methodist Board of Church and Society joined the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood of America and the National Organization for Women in the pro-abortion rights rally in Washington, D.C., Diane Knippers of the Institute on Religion and Democracy told Agape Press it was the denominational leaders -- not the people in the pews -- who were guilty of aligning those denominations with what she described as a "dubious cause."

The issue of homosexuality also has split many denominations. Most recently, a conservative church in Mt. Lebanon, Penn. voted to sever communion with 10 presbyteries across the country over issues of sexuality.

According to the Pittsburg Post-Gazette those 10 presbyteries have announced plans to call for the Presbyterian Church USA to drop constitutional provisions requiring, among other things, for single people to be chaste, for married people to be faithful and would allow homosexual behavior. Although homosexuals, ironically, would be required to maintain fidelity in a relationship for a lifetime.

Richard Wolling, pastor at the Mt. Lebanon church, said the church is following the lead of the Anglican church in Nigeria, which separated itself from the Episcopal Church USA over the sanctioning of an openly gay minister.

Methodists, too, are considering the church's stand on homosexual behavior during their general conference. The issue came to the forefront for Methodists when the church court acquitted a lesbian pastor at a trial last month.