The historic decision came on the penultimate day of the United Methodist Church's (UMC) General Conference, an 11-day gathering of delegates from around the world in Charlotte, North Carolina, which voted 523-161 to approve the church's revised Social Principles.

In addition to that specific historic decision, the gathering is also in the process of approving other measures to remove anti-LGBTQ language from official UMC documents.

On Wednesday, the UMC General Conference voted to remove its ban on ordaining or appointing "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" as pastors.

Delegates also approved a new definition of marriage, recognizing that a couple may or may not be a man and a woman.

The new definition replaces the exclusively heterosexual definition of marriage, but it required contentious debate that exposed tensions between some U.S. and international delegates and only passed after an amendment was added.

The amendment includes a parenthetical that marriage is a sacred covenant between "two persons of faith (adult male and female in a conjugal union or two adults in a civil union)."

The gathering is the first legislative meeting of the UMC since 2019, when delegates from around the world voted to uphold the UMC's traditional rules on marriage, effectively barring same-sex marriage, and revealing a schism in the church.

Those differences over marriage have led many conservatives to leave the denomination.

More than 7,600 mostly conservative U.S. congregations — a quarter of the denomination in the U.S. — have disaffiliated because the UMC has not enforced its bans on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ ordination.

But the exodus of many conservatives from the UMC has allowed the current gathering to have the most progressive group of delegates in memory.

Until recently, the denomination was the third-largest in the U.S., with a presence in nearly every county.

However, its 5.4 million U.S. members in 2022 are expected to decline when the 2023 disaffiliations are counted.

The denomination also has 4.6 million members in other countries, primarily in Africa, though estimates suggest that the number of adherents is declining there as well.

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