The United Methodist Church Ratifies Worldwide Regionalization, Ending the Denomination's US Centered Structure

On 5 November 2025, the United Methodist Church's Council of Bishops announced that annual conference lay and clergy voters around the world had ratified a package of four constitutional amendments, with 91.6 percent in favor, restructuring the denomination into nine regional conferences of equal standing, one in the United States and eight replacing the former Central Conferences of Africa, Europe and the Philippines. Before regionalization, only the Central Conferences outside the United States held authority to adapt the denomination's Book of Discipline to their own legal and missional contexts, leaving the United States uniquely without that flexibility even as it had long functioned as the denomination's default center. Each of the nine regional conferences can now adapt parts of the Book of Discipline to its own context, including matters such as clergy ordination standards, while the denomination's core doctrinal standards remain shared across every region. Council of Bishops president Tracy Malone called the ratification and certification of the amendments a defining moment in the continuing renewal and unity of the church.