After a yearlong discussion, three Vicksburg-area Presbyterian churches were given the green light to switch affiliations from the Presbyterian Church (USA) to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, church officials said this morning.

First Presbyterian Church of Vicksburg, Yokena Presbyterian and First Presbyterian Church of Port Gibson were given the OK for the switch.

The switch came after the Presbytery of Mississippi, a governing body for PC (USA), approved the request for withdrawal Thursday at a meeting in Ocean Springs. Monday night, members of the Vicksburg congregation met and favored the change 83 to 17 percent, and from there they took the petition to Ocean Springs.

“There was not a single dissenting vote at the Presbytery,” said Mike Herrin, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Port Gibson and Yokena Presbyterian Church. “I would say there was between 50 and 60 people there, and there wasn’t a single dissenting vote.”

Churches in Pascagoula and Ocean Springs also received permission to withdraw from PC (USA) and join the EPC.

Herrin said the congregations will now become transitional members of the EPC. The Central South Presbytery, regional governing body for the church, will examine the ruling members of each church, and they will then become full members.

“Nobody will know the difference, there are no pastoral changes,” Herrin said. “The casual observer wouldn’t tell a difference at all.”

The Rev. Tim Brown, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Vicksburg, said discussions for change began at his church about a year ago, and Herrin said his congregation has had concerns “for a long time.”

“You can’t put a date on it,” Herrin said. “People always have concerns, and different congregations have dealt with this for different amounts of time.”

Some of those concerns were a number of new doctrines adopted by PC (USA), including some dealing with the authority of Scripture and the extent of salvation.

Herrin said making the switch is not uncommon, and he knew of at least five other Mississippi churches that had done so in the past few years.

The five churches who were granted permission to withdraw Thursday will affiliate with the Livonia, Mich.-based EPC, a denomination founded in 1981 which currently numbers about 300 churches and 115,000 members.