The United Methodist Church (UMC) has voted to reject a proposal that sought to insert a declaration that God is not "male or female" in the Book of Discipline.
On Monday, the UMC released the results of the vote on five Constitutional Amendments that were approved by the 2016 General Conference, The Christian Post reported.
One of the items on the ballot was Constitutional Amendment I, which declares that "it is contrary to Scripture and to logic to say that God is male or female, as maleness and femaleness are characteristics of human bodies and cultures, not characteristics of the divine."
The results revealed that the proposal garnered 66.5 percent of the vote, just 0.2 percent short of the minimum requirement of 66.7 percent majority.
Another proposal, Constitutional Amendment II, sought to affirm the denomination's commitment to gender equality by including the term "gender" in the list of groups or identities that would not be excluded from the Church.
The UMC Council of Bishops said in a statement on Monday that it was disappointed by the failure of the two proposals.
"While we are not completely clear concerning the motivation that caused them to miss the two-thirds required majority by slim margins, we want to be clear that we are unequivocal in our commitment to the equality of women and their full inclusion in our Church," the statement read.
"We recommit ourselves as individual bishops, and the Council of Bishops, to leading the church toward the goal which Christ has given us to fully include both men and women in the life and ministry of Christ's church," it continued.
The results of the vote came after the Council of Bishops recommended a new proposal that would allow individual pastors to make their own decisions on issues such as the ordination of LGBT people as clergy and conducting same-sex weddings.
A discussion on same-sex marriage and homosexual clergy had resulted in a deadlock during the 2016 General Conference in Portland, prompting the bishops to create a 32-member commission that would make recommendations on how to settle disagreements on the issue.
The Book of Discipline holds that "the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching" and that openly practicing homosexuals cannot be ordained as ministers.
The proposal endorsed by the bishops, called the One Church Plan, seeks to remove the language that would allow individual pastors to decide whether to perform same-sex weddings and ordain homosexual clergy. But the amendment would include protections for pastors and conferences that may have objections to same-sex marriage or the ordination of LGBT individuals.
