Ripon, Wis. ? A Lutheran congregation is losing members over a decision to maintain a policy barring women from voting on church issues.

The male electorate at Messiah Lutheran Church in Ripon voted 25-17 last month to let women vote on church matters, but the rule change failed because a two-thirds majority was needed for the measure to pass.

The 400-member church is one of only a few in its synod without women’s suffrage. Now, some families are looking for a new place to worship.

“There is unhappiness over this issue,” said Allen Mortenson, of Ripon, a founding member of Messiah Lutheran.

About 20 percent of churches in the Missouri Synod don’t let women vote, said Samuel Nafzger, executive director of theology at the denomination’s headquarters in St. Louis.

Massachusetts chapel tries to hang on

Cambridge, Mass. — For more than a century, the tiny Swedenborg Chapel has been located in the middle of the stately environs of Harvard University. If it doesn’t make a $2 million payment by the end of March, it may be absorbed by them.

The church must raise more than three-quarters of the payment after 21 months of trying.