The term “regional conference” refers to a new nomenclature that renames “central conferences” as “regional conferences” and includes the U.S. as its own “regional conference.” As things have always previously been, the existing central conferences (and even the annual conferences within them) can accept, adapt, or reject large swaths of what the General Conference adopts to ensure continuity and effectiveness in ministry in their own part of the world.
Case in point—there remain several Central Conferences that never adopted the restructuring of the ordering of ministry that took place in 1996, creating permanent deacons and a process of commissioning instead of using the office of deacon exclusively as a “transitional” phase toward ordination as elder. They can refuse to make this change—as significant as it was in 1996 and to this day—because they are central conferences, and the Discipline permits them to do so.
The result is there is not, and almost never has been, a “uniform” Book of Discipline worldwide. There is what the General Conference adopts, which is then what is the Discipline for the U.S., and then there is whatever each Central Conference does (or doesn’t do) with it.
This ability of other regions of the world to adapt the Discipline to work better in their environment does not apply in the United States. Whatever General Conference adopts, even when there is widespread disagreement or other significant problems with it in the U.S., simply is the Discipline in the U.S.
There would be close to no changes for your local church were this adopted—or at least, quite likely, few if any changes that your local church would regard as making their lives more difficult. The U.S. in general has been working to streamline legislation to make it more workable for local churches in the US, not all of which passes at General Conference because over 40% of the delegates are from outside the U.S., so only a small minority of U.S. delegates need to support things as they are for them to remain as they are (instead of further streamlined or customized). Assuming current trends, the U.S. will have a minority of General Conference delegates as soon as 2028 (almost certainly in 2032), so the ability of the U.S. to be able to adapt whatever General Conference produces will only become more important over time. For more information on the Christmas Covenant, go to Christmas Covenant FAQs