United Methodist representatives have approved an amended traditional approach that prohibits LGBT clergy and same-sex church marriages, strengthening enforcement of existing church prohibitions.

The church representatives previously rejected plans that would change the denomination's restrictions on LGBT clergy and same-sex marriages.

LGBT supporters sang the hymn "Blessed Assurance" afterward, according to the United Methodist Church's official news service.

The members then voted to send the approved Traditional Plan to denomination's judicial council for possible review against the denomination's constitution.

Committee members at an international conference in St. Louis rejected two sets of plans Monday that would have allowed individual churches to decide for themselves on LGBT issues, and instead advanced a plan that would keep current rules forbidding same-sex church weddings and LGBT clergy.

An effort Tuesday to revive the more inclusive One Church Plan was defeated by a vote of the representatives. Delegates will vote later today on the Traditional Plan, which was approved for a full vote Monday.

The Traditional Plan would uphold current rules against LGBT pastors and same-sex marriage and add clearer discipline for violations.

In a series of Upstate meetings prior to the conference, more people agreed with the policy laid out in the Traditional Plan, said lay leader Michael Cheatham, pastor of Zoar United Methodist Church in Greer.

Cheatham said he is a traditionalist and he expects today's votes will support the Traditional Plan. The same 864 delegates who voted to advance the Traditional Plan on Monday and reject the LGBT changes will be voting today.

Cheatham said the Upstate, from his experience as the Greenville district lay leader in the state, is more traditional, but he certainly has heard from members who want to have more inclusive changes.

"I just think people need to know tomorrow morning the church is still going to be the church," he said. "There are people in the world and the Upstate of South Carolina that need to hear the word of the Lord."

South Carolina Conference Bishop L. Jonathan Holston said the Monday session of committee votes were “exhausting, but it was enlightening."

"We knew that the day was going to be a difficult day," Holston said, in a video posted to the state conference's Facebook page.

He said everyone has an opinion on sexuality, and those views are not the same for everyone.

"What I've tried to do and what I've continued to do is to pray and to understand that we have differences of opinion on this particular issue but there are so many issues, so many ways we are together on some things," Holston said. "Let's not let this be the thing that divides us as a whole. There's so much more we can do together."

A Pew Research study found a large majority of United States-based United Methodists support gay marriage. Large numbers of delegates at the conference represent the international parts of the church, which are relatively uniform in opposing gay marriage, which is illegal in many countries.

Chip Reaves, a member of Anderson's St. John's United Methodist Church, said he is considering leaving the denomination because he does not want to belong to a church that would reject changes making the church more open to LGBT people.

"Depending on what happens today, and I'll be taking a few days or even weeks to reflect, but I’ve had a good number of friends who have left the church over this," Reaves said. "There’s a well-worn path out the door."

Reaves said he had teared up listening to the livestream of the proceedings, and as the grandson of a Methodist pastor, he is passionate about the church and its responsibilities, from supporting the church's pension fund and missionaries to its community works.

"But this is not a message I can support," he said of the church's stance on LGBT issues. "I love my church, I love my pastor, a lot of people in our church feel the same way. Need a clear message that this is not OK."

Reaves' pastor, the Rev. Kitty Holtzclaw, said it is too early to know what will happen.

Holtzclaw said she has caught some of the proceedings, but her work — and the church's — continues because the sick and the hurting are still in need of help regardless of what happens in St. Louis.

"We will get through this, we will be here," Holtzclaw said.

By a 50-vote margin, the representatives rejected the One Church plan endorsed by most bishops' representatives, as well as another plan, both of which would have given greater church roles to LGBT people.

Instead, the Traditional Plan won the support of the committee. It would retain current prohibitions against same-sex church weddings and "self-avowed practicing homosexuals."

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These same delegates will return to The Dome in St. Louis today and gather as the plenary, or a meeting acting as the full General Conference assembly. That’s when a final vote is expected on the Traditional Plan. There is also a chance the One Church plan could make a comeback.

Supporters of the Traditional Plan praised the legislative committee's actions.

In an email, the Rev. Mel Arant, pastor of Pendleton United Methodist Church, acknowledged the difficulty of Monday's discussion.

"Whenever God's children struggle to find consensus or common ground upon which to live together in ministry and witness, it's hard, emotional — even painful," Arant said.

The United Methodist Church is a worldwide church, Arant said.

"Most congregations should not notice a change in how they are already doing ministry," Arant said. "If our congregations have been taking their lead from God, they are doing ministry now in the manner in which God has called them. Any action of General Conference shouldn't be able to change that."

Holly Meyer of the Nashville Tennessean contributed to this story.