The Activate Church in Bowden, South Australia, announced on Sunday it has ceased to be a member of the Australian Christian Churches (ACC) denomination, which has over 1000 churches nationwide.

Pastor Brad Chilcott, who has headed Activate for nine years, told BuzzFeed News the split came about due to a fundamental disagreement on the place of LGBTI people in the church.

"We've had members of the LGBTI community as part of our church for quite a long time, also in leadership positions. We knew from the outset that was outside the rules, the position on human sexuality the ACC has," he said.

"It became clear our stance wasn't compatible and we parted ways."

The split from ACC has seen Chilcott stripped of his marriage celebrant licence and leaves Activate, which is incorporated in its own right, without a denomination.

The ACC's decision to join the Marriage Alliance, an anti-marriage equality group, was also a factor in the split. Chilcott said he found out ACC had joined the controversial group through media reports.



"Not having the opportunity to make a comment or not opt in or out of that was the first part of it being a red flag," he said.

Chilcott, who supports marriage equality, added that he felt the tone of the group was not consistent with his understanding of Christianity.

"The tone and the content of the Marriage Alliance as it has engaged in the marriage equality debate has been something. I don't think it reflects anything I understand of Jesus and his characters and the way he shows love to marginalised and excluded people," he said.