United Methodist Communications
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In consultation among top administrators and leaders of The United Methodist Church, a timeline has been developed for ratifying for proposed constitutional amendments.
The Council of Bishops, the Commission on the General Conference leadership and the Secretary of the General Conference project a timeline from the recent 2020/2024 General Conference. The process informs the timeline of editing and publication of the newest version of The Book of Discipline to ensure the most accurate version of the material.
Ratification of proposed constitutional amendments is a multilayered process, beginning with the editing of the proposed language from the actions of General Conference and developing the documents to be distributed.
With changes in leadership across the connection, the following steps are currently underway:
- Verifying the current list of annual conferences, annual conference secretaries and their correct contact information.
- Establishing the process for reporting the results of the votes to be taken in all annual conferences.
The next step of the ratification process is to release a draft of the language of the proposed constitutional amendments. This document will be made available the first week of September and is intended to be used for educational purposes as annual conferences prepare for voting in 2025.
Ballots will be distributed by January 31, 2025.
The Council of Bishops ultimately will ratify the votes received from the annual conferences.
Brenda Smotherman directs the Office of Public Information for United Methodist Communications.