New United Methodist Church structure ratified

Key points:                                   

• Annual conference voters have ratified a constitutional-amendments package that aims to put The United Methodist Church’s different geographical regions on equal footing.
• Under the newly ratified restructuring, the U.S. and each central conference — church regions in Africa, Europe and the Philippines — become regional conferences with the same legislative authority.
• The bishops now must name a committee that will be responsible for creating a U.S. regional conference, a whole new structure.
• The ratification also opens the way for further study of whether the U.S. should continue to have jurisdictions.

United Methodist voters on four continents have ratified a major restructuring that aims to give the denomination’s different geographical regions equal decision-making authority.

The Council of Bishops, meeting online, announced Nov. 5 the ratification of the restructuring — known as Worldwide Regionalization — as well as three other amendments to the denomination’s constitution.

“The ratification and certification of these constitutional amendments mark a defining moment in the continuing renewal and unity of The United Methodist Church,” Council of Bishops President Tracy S. Malone said in a press statement. She also leads the Indiana Conference.

“These amendments reflect the church’s rich diversity and deep commitment to live more fully into our shared mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world and strengthens our world-wide connection to serve faithfully and inclusively in every context.”

To be ratified, a constitutional amendment must first receive at least a two-thirds majority vote at the denomination’s top lawmaking assembly, General Conference — which happened last year. Each amendment next must receive the approval of at least two-thirds of the total vote by lay and clergy members at annual conferences worldwide. The denomination has more than 120 annual conferences — bodies consisting of multiple churches and ministries — in Africa, Europe, the Philippines and the United States.

Annual conference voters supported regionalization by a vote of 34,148 to 3,124 — a 91.6% majority.

“We celebrate this historic and successful ratification of Worldwide Regionalization as a powerful affirmation of the worldwide United Methodist connection,” said Benedita Penicela Nhambiu of Mozambique. She has been involved in pushing the legislation forward each step of the way.

With regionalization, she said, The United Methodist Church is moving “into an equitable era where every region is an empowered partner.”

What regionalization does

Regionalization is the most discussed and potentially most far-reaching of the amendments up for a vote at annual conferences this year.

Under the restructuring, the U.S. and the central conferences — eight church regions in Africa, Europe and the Philippines — each become regional conferences with the same authority to adapt the Book of Discipline, the denomination’s policy book, for more missional effectiveness.

“This has been called the most significant structural change in the church since the merger of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1968 to form The United Methodist Church,” said Judi Kenaston, chief connectional ministries officer for the Connectional Table.

The Connectional Table acts as a sort of denomination-wide church council and played a critical role in developing the plan just ratified.

“Regionalization is the opportunity to de-center the church so that it isn’t a U.S.-dominated church but that United Methodism in every region is a unique expression of the church,” Kenaston said.

Previously, only central conferences had that authority under the denomination’s constitution to adapt the Discipline as their missional needs and different legal contexts required. But with no such structure in the U.S., General Conference was very U.S.-centric. U.S. concerns also became the focus of the entire continents-spanning denomination.

The constitutional amendments provide a framework for how the different regions of The United Methodist Church can work together moving forward. They also spell out certain things each regional conference can adapt to its context.

Each regional conference will have the authority to:

• Publish its own hymnal, book of worship and regional Book of Discipline.

• Set standards of character and other qualifications for lay membership.
• Set requirements for ordination and licensed ministry of pastors.
• Develop practices around marriage ceremonies, funerals and other rites in line with understanding of Scripture and the laws in each country.
• Make changes to chargeable offenses under church law.
• Work with annual conferences to ensure policies and practices align with the laws in each country.
• Appoint a judicial court to determine legal questions arising from the regional conference’s adaptations of the Book of Discipline.

Regionalization addresses The United Methodist Church’s intense debate around LGBTQ inclusion by letting each regional conference decide.

The question of whether to allow same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly gay clergy will be left up to individual regional conferences — as long as they comply with the national laws within their borders. Already, central conferences in Africa and the Philippines have opted to maintain bans on gay clergy and same-sex marriage.

In all things, the amendments require regional conferences to comply with national laws and not stray from the Articles of Religion and Confession of Faith that contain the denomination’s doctrines, including belief in Christ’s resurrection, the Trinity and the sacraments of baptism and communion.

General Conference still will act as the denomination’s top lawmaking body with full legislative power over all matters distinctively connectional and not subject to adaptation. General Conference also can determine what is non-adaptable for regional conferences by a 60% vote.

The Council of Bishops and Judicial Council, which acts as the denomination’s supreme court, also will continue to connect the entire United Methodist Church. Additionally, the denomination’s 13 general agencies remain part of the denomination’s structure. 

Regionalization requires changes to more than 20 paragraphs in the denomination’s constitution. At both General Conference and annual conferences, lay and clergy voted up or down on all the regionalization amendments on a single ballot.

With those constitutional amendments ratified, other legislation now also takes effect to put regionalization into action.  

What’s next?

For the eight central conferences in Africa, Europe and the Philippines, the only immediate change is that they will be renamed regional conferences. They will meet as usual after the 2028 General Conference.

The biggest change will be creating a U.S. Regional Conference. The Council of Bishops will name 20 to 25 U.S. General Conference delegates to form the Interim Committee on Organization that will organize the U.S. Regional Conference.

Last year’s General Conference already approved another committee that would be in place even if the regionalization amendments fell short.

In the Discipline, Paragraph 507 establishes an interim U.S. Regional Committee that will act as a General Conference legislative committee dealing with only U.S. legislative matters. The committee, which will meet immediately prior to the 2028 General Conference, will include all U.S. General Conference delegates and one lay and clergy from each central conference. Once the U.S. Regional Conference convenes after General Conference, this legislative committee will cease to exist.

With regionalization’s ratification, the work on improving the legislation also can get underway. The legislation requires the Connectional Table and Standing Committee to hold a joint study on ways to perfect regionalization and present a report, including any recommendations, to the next General Conference.

Chief among the study’s mandates is exploring whether a regional conference should have jurisdictions. At present, only the U.S. has jurisdictions. The five bodies, like central conferences, each consist of multiple annual conferences and elect bishops. But unlike central conferences, jurisdictions cannot adapt the Discipline. Jurisdictions first formed in 1939 to segregate Black church members and prevent U.S. Northerners and Southerners from having a say in each others’ bishops. Given that history, grassroots efforts have developed to eliminate jurisdictions. Doing so also would require amending the denomination’s constitution.

“Even though there are still questions that we need to answer about regionalization, there is a lot of enthusiasm,” Kenaston said. “People are willing to live in some ambiguity while we figure it out, and I think that is exciting and an example of how hopeful people are for this change.”

How did we get here?

Regionalization’s ratification marks a stark change for an idea The United Methodist Church and its predecessor denominations have considered off and on for about a century.

A similar restructuring effort moved forward by the 2008 General Conference was met with rejection by a majority of annual conference voters. A proposal to create a U.S. central conference did not even make it out of committee at the 2016 General Conference.

In 2017, the Connectional Table initially prepared legislation to create such a U.S. regional conference. That effort was then picked up and expanded by a grassroots group of central conference leaders who drafted the Christmas Covenant.

The Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters — the one denominational body with a majority of members from outside the U.S. — built on the work of both the Connectional Table and Christmas Covenant to submit the legislation that makes up Worldwide Regionalization.

The Connectional Table and most Christmas Covenant team members also endorsed the standing committee’s legislation. With ratification, the standing committee is now renamed the Standing Committee on Regional Conference Matters Outside the USA.

“We celebrate the result of the ratification of Worldwide Regionalization,” said the Rev. Marie Sol Villalon, a Christmas Covenant team member from the Philippines.

“Our challenge is to be an authentic Church of Jesus Christ that embraces all people, doing faithful ministry especially to the suffering ones who need our compassionate presence through service, love and justice in the world. The Philippine church is excited to be part of a new UMC as we participate in Christ’s mission in our own regional context.”

The Reconciling Ministries Network, which advocates for the inclusion of LGBTQ church members, also supported regionalization's passage — recognizing different regions would different policies related to LGBTQ people. 

“This moment calls us to reimagine connectionalism through gracious engagement  and reciprocity,” the Rev. Israel “Izzy” Alvaran of Reconciling Ministries Network said in a statement. “Worldwide Regionalization is more than a structural change—it’s a spiritual invitation to embody mutuality, equitable partnerships, and hope for respectful dialogue across all regions of our church.”

Karen Prudente, the Connectional Table’s treasurer as well as a participant in the Christmas Covenant team, said that she looks forward to seeing how regionalization helps United Methodists learn to trust each other.

“We’ve always had that opportunity to really show how diverse people can live together — the U.S. is that great example of what is possible — and yet we have let fear of the other keep us from really expanding that love that we all have,” she said during a webinar ahead of the bishops’ meeting.

Kenaston shared a similar sentiment.

“Some have feared that regionalization might fragment the church,” she said. “I believe that we will see the church more united than ever as we understand that every region has much to offer.”

Hahn is assistant news editor for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. The Rev. Israel Alvaran of Reconciling Ministries Network contributed this story. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.