KANSAS CITY, Mo.--Trinity United Methodist Church will no longer perform traditional marriage ceremonies because a church rule prohibits such services for gays and lesbians.

The Associated Press reports couples can no longer exchange vows at the church, no matter their sexual preferences, because no additional ceremonies are being booked.

The last traditional wedding at the church in midtown Kansas City is scheduled this spring and will take place as planned.

Then, instead of traditional ceremonies, the church will offer special worship celebrations for couples that do not include wedding vows, said the Rev. Sally Haynes, the church's senior pastor.

The new policy was approved by 92 percent of the congregation in a vote. About 30 to 40 percent of Trinity's 275 members are gay or lesbian, Haynes said.

The issue arose last year when two same-sex couples asked to have a holy union performed at the church. The United Methodist Church's Book of Discipline states that gays and lesbians are entitled to the same basic human and civil rights as all people, but church rules prohibit same-sex unions from being performed in its churches or by its ministers.

Four years ago, the church approved a definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman. But at Trinity, same-sex couples voiced concerns that it was unfair for the church to marry heterosexual couples who were not members and not marry gay and lesbian couples who tithe.

Bishop Ann B. Sherer, who presides over United Methodist churches in Kansas City, lauded Trinity for serving the gay and lesbian community, but indicated the church will not bend the marriage rule for the congregation.

"We want them to stay within the United Methodist Church and within the guidelines of our discipline," Sherer said. She said Trinity was the first United Methodist church in Missouri to institute a no-marriage policy, though she had heard of similar policies elsewhere.

Jamie Rich, director of the Lesbian and Gay Community Center of Greater Kansas City, said more congregations may follow Trinity's lead.

"I'm very heartened by a congregation that puts the best interests and beliefs of its people first," Rich said.