At the 2020/2024 General Conference an important amendment to The United Methodist Constitution was passed. The amendment is called Paragraph 4, Article IV, and this is what it says:
Inclusiveness of the Church - The United Methodist Church is a part of the church universal, which is one Body in Christ. The United Methodist Church acknowledges that all persons are of sacred worth. All persons without regard to race, gender, ability, color, national origin, status or economic condition, shall be eligible to attend its worship services, participate in its programs, receive the sacraments, upon baptism be admitted as baptized members, and upon taking vows declaring the Christian faith, become professing members in any local church in the connection. In The United Methodist Church, no conference or other organizational unit of the Church shall be structured so as to exclude any member or any constituent body of the Church because of race, color, national origin, status or economic condition.
The amended portion of the Constitution adds ability and gender to existing social categories that clergy in The United Methodist Church cannot use to discriminate against a potential member. Said another way, a pastor may not deny a person membership in the church because they have a disability, are female or male, married or single, young or old. You can learn more by reading this article, shared before the 2024 General Conference session.
Now What?
Now, we have to ratify this amendment by voting in every annual conference. We need a two-thirds majority of the aggregate, which means that every voting member of every annual conference will vote. In other words, ratification is based upon the popular vote. Also, a certain percentage of votes does not have to come from each annual conference. The percentage of yes votes is based upon the overall number of individual voting members.
Every lay and clergy voting member of every annual conference will have the opportunity to vote on this amendment. The voting will be via paper ballot, and no additional amendments are permitted. After the vote, the ballots will be collected and returned to the Council of Bishops for counting.
What Happened Last Time?
In 2016, the General Conference approved adding gender to Paragraph 4, Article IV, but the addition was not ratified or approved because the overall vote was 61%, which fell short from the two-thirds vote required. You can view the voting breakdown in this 2016 article by the Rev. Leigh Goodrich.
The United Methodist Church has changed considerably since 2016, with changes in annual conferences, membership, and polity. In this season, we have the opportunity to add ability and gender to our Constitution, thereby ensuring that no person can be denied membership to a United Methodist Church based upon their gender or ability.
How Can I Help?
Visit ResourceUMC.org/Paragraph4Article4 to learn more about the significance of passing Paragraph 4, Article IV. This amendment is crucial for mobilizing voting members of The United Methodist Church to understand the ratification process and support its adoption. You can contribute by sharing information about the amendment with your church, leadership teams, districts, annual conferences, and other United Methodist groups.
This is the season to ensure that all persons have a place in The United Methodist Church. Vote “yes” on Ballot #2 to ratify Paragraph 4, Article IV.
This content was created by the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women and published on January 13, 2025. Contact is Royya James, GCSRW director of communications.