Key points:
- Bishop Rubén Saenz Jr. maintains, as a matter of church law, Highland Park is still United Methodist even after a congregational vote to cut ties.
- He is making plans to care for Highland Park members who wish to stay United Methodist.
- The litigation about changes to the church’s bylaws remains ongoing.
Bishop Rubén Saenz Jr. announced Oct. 29 he has made plans to ensure Highland Park members who wish to stay United Methodist have pastoral leadership and a place of worship.
At the same time, the bishop insisted that the congregation’s vote this week to cut ties with the denomination is not valid under church law and that the Dallas megachurch remains part of the United Methodist fold.
In letters to both Highland Park lay leaders and congregants, the Horizon Texas Conference bishop announced that he has appointed the Rev. Andy Lewis as the new senior pastor of Highland Park. Lewis most recently has served as assistant to the bishop, a senior leadership role in the conference office.
“As your pastor, Andy will care for you, preach the Word, offer the sacraments and walk with you through this season,” Saenz said in his letter to the congregants.
In his letters, Saenz also announced that he was removing the Rev. Matt Tuggle, the church’s current senior pastor, and the Rev. Paul Rasmussen, the senior pastor emeritus, from the church’s leadership. United Methodist bishops, like their Catholic counterparts, appoint pastors to lead their denomination’s congregations.
But what it means at Highland Park remains to be seen since congregational leadership no longer considers the church United Methodist.
Saenz told the church council that as a matter of church law, “Highland Park United Methodist Church, chartered in 1916, remains a recognized United Methodist congregation and a charge of the Horizon Texas Conference.”
For the time being, Saenz said Highland Park United Methodists will gather for worship with Lewis at 10 a.m. U.S. Central time Nov. 1 at University Park United Methodist Church, about three miles away.
“Out of respect for everyone involved, and to avoid unnecessary conflict while these matters are resolved, we will worship there temporarily as we continue caring for one another and moving forward together,” Saenz said in his letter to congregants. “I hope you will remain together as a community of faith. The relationships, ministries and shared commitments you have built over the years are worth preserving. Even in this uncertain season, you have an opportunity to carry that community forward.”
UM News has reached out to Highland Park for comment but has not yet heard back.
The changes come amid an escalating dispute between the conference and leaders of one The United Methodist Church’s biggest and wealthiest congregations.
In August, the Horizon Texas Conference filed a lawsuit in Dallas County civil court against the church — arguing the church council’s changes to Highland Park’s bylaws in 2022 improperly removed oversight by the denomination and the church’s own congregants.
The conference’s lawsuit followed meetings in October and December last year and this past March in which Saenz and other conference leaders urged the church to revise its bylaws to bring them back in line with United Methodist processes and with the Book of Discipline, the denomination’s law book.
In the response to the lawsuit, filed Sept. 21, the church leadership said it informed the conference of the changes at the time and strongly denied that the church was trying to cut ties with The United Methodist Church.
Subscribe to our
e-newsletter
However, on Oct. 15, Highland Park’s church council unanimously adopted an ecclesiastical resolution calling for the churchwide vote with a recommendation to leave the denomination.
That vote took place over Oct. 25 and 26, with 90.35% of the 4,775 votes cast in favor of a resolution to “sever all of its ties, affiliations, and connections to The United Methodist Church.”
That still leaves more than 400 Highland Park members who voted against the resolution. About one-third of Highland Park’s 15,000 members participated in the vote.
“Beginning this Sunday, we will worship as Highland Park Methodist Church, with the commitment to protect the mission, ministry, and future of our Church while still honoring our history and past,” the church council said in its letter announcing the vote tally.
“In the coming weeks, we will begin working to operationalize the changes required by this separation, with a goal to have that work completed by December 1, 2026.”
The church council’s letter added that this was not an easy decision. “Regardless of your perspective, we want to assure you that our Church will continue to operate as it has, and we will continue to be who we are. We will remain united by our identity and mission in Christ, rather than divided by our differences.”
Under the Book of Discipline, leaving the denomination with property is not a simple matter of taking a congregational vote.
The United Methodist Church maintains a centuries-old trust clause, first established by Methodism founder John Wesley, that says church property is held in trust for the benefit of the denomination. What that means is that while people can leave a church at any time, they can’t take property with them.
From 2019 to 2023, during the time Highland Park changed its bylaws, the denomination offered a limited release from the trust clause — allowing churches to leave with property if they met certain financial and procedural conditions, including congregational vote of least two-thirds to leave. More than 7,600 U.S. churches left the denomination under that provision.
But that policy expired on Dec. 31, 2023. The next year, General Conference — the denomination’s top policymaking body — took the additional step of removing it entirely from the Discipline. The United Methodist Judicial Council subsequently declared that the trust clause is now back in full force.
Civil courts across the U.S. repeatedly have upheld the United Methodist trust clause in adjudicating church-property disputes because many other nonprofits also have trust provisions for property.
What happens in the Texas courts is still unknown.
The conference amended the suit on Oct. 15, adding a second count accusing the church of breach of contract and arguing that the church council’s changes are void. The conference is asking the court for a permanent injunction prohibiting Highland Park from breaching the articles and bylaws further.
A non-jury trial is set for Oct. 12, 2027.
In the meantime, Lewis said it his great honor and privilege to serve as the Highland Park pastor. A native of Plano, Texas, Lewis has experience as senior pastor of Holy Covenant United Methodist in Carrollton and First United Methodist Lewisville, both Dallas-area churches.
“This has been a hard and painful season for many of you,” he said in a statement. “As your pastor, I look forward to listening to you and walking with you so that, with God’s help, you will find healing and your hope will be restored.”
Hahn is assistant news editor for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.
