For our church there are the Articles of Religion and the Confession of Faith. These are not to be adjusted except by vote of 3/4 of the members of each of our geographic regions (annual conferences) present and counted.
Articles of Religion
http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1817 The Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church I-IV
http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1649 The Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church V-VIII
http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1650 The Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church IX-XV
http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1651 The Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church XVI-XVIII
http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?mid=1648 The Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church XIX-XXIII
http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1653 The Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church XXIV-XXV
and
Confession of Faith
http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1654 The Confession of Faith of The Evangelical United Brethren Church I-V
http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1655 The Confession of Faith of The Evangelical United Brethren Church VI-VIII
http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1656 The Confession of Faith of The Evangelical United Brethren Church IX-XII
http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1657 The Confession of Faith of The Evangelical United Brethren Church XIII-XVI
So if 3/4 of the members vote that Christ did not rise bodily from the dead, then it's a done deal?
I'm not arguing with the articles of your faith, just wondering whether these issues truly belong to the realm of the democratic process. Christ either did or did not rise from the dead.
A vote simply surveys the state of belief in your church at any one point in time. It does nothing to alter the objective realities of Christ's life, death and resurrection.
Ditto for other moral issues such as the sinfulness of sodomy, theft or murder.