Council of Bishops announces UMC Constitutional Amendments voting results
The United Methodist Council of Bishops announced that only 5 of 32 amendments to the church’s constitution passed by the 2008 General Conference have been ratified by the annual conferences. The ratified amendments will become effective immediately. (NOTE: The United Methodist Constitution is Part I of the United Methodist Book of Discipline.)
The process for amending the Constitution of The United Methodist Church requires a two-thirds majority vote of General Conference delegates. Annual conferences (the 62 U.S. annual conferences and the 73 conferences in Africa, Europe and Asia) must then ratify the amendments by a two-thirds affirmative vote. In other words, if at least 66.6 percent of all votes from all Annual Conferences combined are in the affirmative, the amendment is ratified. The results of the voting are reported to the Council on Bishops, where they are verified and counted. The results are then reviewed and certified by the Council of Bishops.
Members of the 2009 North Alabama Conference took part in this process and voted on the Amendments last June.
The vote counts for each of the amendments were as follows:
- Amendment I, which clarifies all people are eligible to attend worship services and receive the sacraments: 23,614 yes; 25,764 no
- Amendment II, which requires all United Methodist organizations to adopt ethics and conflict of interest policies for members and employees: 32,413 yes; 16,596 no
- Amendment III, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 21,126 yes; 28,218 no
- Amendment IV, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 19,219 yes; 30,178 no
- Amendment V, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,768 yes; 28,486 no
- Amendment VI, allows newly established conferences be represented on a non-proportional basis for two quadrennia: 25,969 yes; 22,990 no
- Amendment VII, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,840 yes; 28,588 no
- Amendment VIII, adds “gender” to the list of categories ensuring the rights of membership regardless of race or status: passed 41,434 yes; 7,712 no
- Amendment IX, which ensures every jurisdictional conference have at least 100 delegates: passed 39,333 yes; 9,122 no
- Amendment X, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 19,386 yes; 29,920 no
- Amendment XI, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,711 yes; 28,539 no
- Amendment XII, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,825 yes; 28,568 no
- Amendment XIII, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 19,566 yes; 29,819 no
- Amendment XIV, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,851 yes; 28,505 no
- Amendment XV, which allows definition of the lay and clergy membership of the annual conference by the General Conference without going through the constitutional amendment process; 31,233 yes; 17,218 no
- Amendment XVI, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,823 yes; 28,586 no
- Amendment XVII, which allows laity on the committee on investigation to vote on matters of ordination, character and conference relations of clergy: passed 33,810 yes; 14,712 no
- Amendment XVIII, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,856 yes; 28,546 no
- Amendment XIX, which allows all clergy members of annual conference to vote to elect clergy delegates to general, jurisdictional or central conferences: passed 38,604 yes 10,432 no
- Amendment XX, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,639 yes; 28,653 no
- Amendment XXI, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,921 yes; 28,425 no
- Amendment XXII, which recognizes Bermuda congregations as part of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference: passed 43,049 yes; 5,539 no
- Amendment XXIII, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 19,184 yes; 30,185 no
- Amendment XXIV, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,575 yes; 28,853 no
- Amendment XXV, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,581 yes; 28,688 no
- Amendment XXVI, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 19,277 yes; 30,061 no
- Amendment XXVII, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,711 yes; 28,657 no
- Amendment XXVIII, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,588 yes; 28,656 no
- Amendment XXIX, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,652 yes; 28,703 no
- Amendment XXX, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,584 yes; 28,703 no
- Amendment XXXI, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,658 yes; 28,685 no
- Amendment XXXII, which allows the General Conference to create similar structures for the worldwide church: 20,698 yes; 28,591 no
Click here to see the description and rational for these Constitutional Amendments made available before the vote at 2009 North Alabama Annual Conference.
Click here to review how the 2009 North Alabama Conference members voted on these Amendments.
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