There were tears, hugs, prayer and singing in Charlotte, North Carolina, after the United Methodist Church removed a line prohibiting the ordination of LGBTQ clergy that had been in place since 1984.

According to Unite Methodist News, delegates - without debate - voted 692 to 51 for the changes on the day’s consent calendar, which enabled the lawmaking assembly to approve several pieces of legislation in bulk.

The historic vote moves the denomination, with its 10 million members, within a hair’s breadth from being fully accepting of the LGBTQ community. There are other petitions to remove the language in the Book of Discipline, which says homosexuality is “incompatible” with Christian teachings.

“It is time,” said the Rev. Brett Brett M. Opalinski, assistant dean of Methodist Studies at the Emory University’s Candler School of Theology and a delegate from a Florida conference. “So many have worked, fought and lost so many things, So many that God has called and claimed have been denied and turned away. So many allies have been rejected by churches and lost friendships.”

The morning action also removed a ban on annual conferences and denominational agencies from giving United Methodist funds to any “gay caucus group” or using funds to “promote the acceptance of homosexuality.”

Instead, according to United Methodist News, the provision now says annual conferences and agencies should honor the denomination’s commitment not to reject lesbian or gay members.

Other items approved, according to UM News, include:

•Erase the mandatory penalty of at least a one-year suspension without pay for clergy found guilty of officiating at same-sex weddings or unions. This was the denomination’s only chargeable offense with a mandatory penalty.

•Allow gay clergy in good standing to be appointed across annual conference lines when their bishop can’t locate an appointment in their conference.

•Set a moratorium on judicial proceedings related to the denomination’s bans against “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy and same-sex weddings.

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