(RNS) — After years of controversy over LGBTQ+ affirmation and same-sex marriage that split their denomination, United Methodists have ratified a plan to restructure the 57-year-old church to give regions around the world equal standing and greater freedom to tailor church life to local customs and traditions.
The so-called “regionalization plan” received overwhelming support, with 91.6% of United Methodists voting in favor of constitutional amendments to change the church’s structure, according to a church statement. The tally was 34,148 to 3,124, with both clergy and lay people voting in each conference, or regional body.
The plan decentralizes the role of the U.S., which gave birth to churches in Europe, the Philippines and Africa. Each of its nine regions across four continents will now have the ability to set its own qualifications for ordaining clergy and lay leaders, write original hymnals and rituals, compose their own rites for marriage and establish judicial courts.
Among the things that cannot be amended from one region to another are the church’s constitution, its doctrinal standards or its positions on social issues such as human rights, economic justice or care for creation.
The vote completes the process that began in April 2024, when the regionalization plan passed the General Conference, the denomination’s top legislative body. Since then, the denomination’s 120 annual c …