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Constitutional Amendments – Frequently Asked Questions

Note – all Book of Discipline references refer to the 2008 Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church

Who IS eligible to vote on proposed constitutional amendments?

• Clergy members (elders and deacons) in full connection (¶602.1.a, Book of Discipline.)
• Lay members of annual conference (¶602.6, Book of Discipline.)

Who IS NOT eligible to vote on proposed constitutional amendments?

• Provisional deacons and elders (¶602.1.b, Book of Discipline.)
• Associate and affiliate clergy members (¶602.1.c, Book of Discipline.)
• Full-time and part-time local pastors (¶602.1.d, Book of Discipline.)

May an annual conference amend a proposed constitutional amendment?

No. Members may debate a proposed amendment, but they cannot amend it.

The only voting option is to vote yes to approve the amendment or no to reject it. Each amendment has already been approved by the General Conference of The United Methodist Church, and every annual conference will be voting on the identical amendment.

What determines whether a proposed amendment is made to the Constitution?

A constitutional amendment must be ratified by a two-thirds affirmative vote of the aggregate number of members voting in all annual conferences (¶59. Article I, Book of Discipline).

The vote, after being completed, shall be canvassed by the Council of Bishops, and the amendment voted upon shall become effective upon their announcement of its having received the required majority (¶59. Article I, Book of Discipline).

How many constitutional amendments were approved by the 2008 General Conference and now await action by annual conferences?

A total of 32.

Twenty-three of the amendments were proposed by the Task Force on the Global Nature of the Church: Amendments III, IV, V, VII, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XVI, XVIII, XX, XXI, XXIII, XXIV, XXV, XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX, XXX, XXXI, and XXXII.

All 23 amendments relating to the global nature of the church propose: (1) changing the name "central conference" to "regional conference" wherever the term central conference occurs in the constitution, and (2) placing at the end of the affected paragraphs a parenthetical provision that the name change takes effect on January 1, 2013, at which time the parenthetical procedural note will be removed from the Constitution.