Emotions high as Highland Park vote looms

Key points:

• The church council at Highland Park United Methodist Church has scheduled an Oct. 25-26 vote over the church’s future with The United Methodist Church.
• A “Yes” vote would allow the prosperous Dallas church to sever ties with the denomination, council members argue.
• Horizon Texas Conference leaders disagree with the idea that Highland Park can leave the denomination based on the results of the vote.

Walter Gray Lamb, a graphic designer and member of Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, had almost made up his mind to vote the way his church council desires, to sever ties with The United Methodist Church.

But after reading a Facebook post from the Rev. Susan Gorham Robb, a former pastor at Highland Park, he was back in the “undecided” column, he said on Oct. 21.

Voting is set for Oct. 25-26 at the church, one of the largest and wealthiest in the denomination. Highland Park’s church council is recommending its members to vote “Yes” on a resolution that they say will “sever all of its ties, affiliations, and connections to The United Methodist Church.”

Horizon Texas Conference leaders including Bishop Rubén Saenz Jr. dispute that the vote would allow the church to cut ties with the denomination.

“The United Methodist Church respects the freedom of every individual to make their own decisions about their faith and religious affiliation. Clergy and individual lay members are free to choose whether to remain in covenant with The United Methodist Church,” the conference said in a statement on Oct. 16. “However, the Book of Discipline does not authorize a local church to unilaterally sever this covenantal relationship. Any attempt to do so does not diminish the Bishop and Conference’s commitment to continued covenant with Highland Park UMC and its members nor our desire for restoration and reconciliation with this vital community of faith.”

The vote comes a little over two months after the conference filed a civil lawsuit against Highland Park, arguing that the church council changed its bylaws improperly to remove oversight by the denomination and the church’s own congregants.

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 2022 changes are void. The conference is asking the court for a permanent injunction prohibiting Highland Park from breaching the articles and bylaws further. The amended suit also added additional exhibits related to the church’s deeds.

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. That means that while people can leave a church at any time, they can’t take property with them.

In her Facebook post, Robb said she and others think the vote to separate from The United Methodist Church is happening too fast. While acknowledging that “great harm has been done,” she urged her friends at Highland Park to consider that a “no” vote on Sunday could actually be a “not yet” vote.

“I and others’ hope is that this United Methodist church, which is a beacon to the world as the second largest in the United States, can be an example and guide to other bishops and conferences throughout the denomination to fully engage in holy conversation, negotiation, and mediation before prematurely or unnecessarily launching into litigation that creates incredible harm and grief,” she said.

Robb, who worked at Highland Park for 20 years including a stint as senior associate minister, urges that the next step should be engaging a third party, specifically a top-quality mediator.

“A successful vote for severance will not end the lawsuit and will very likely result in additional legal action lasting many years.”

Rogers Healy, a prominent Texas businessman and longtime member of Highland Park, said he will vote to exit The United Methodist Church.

“I know the intentions behind the people that we follow as our spiritual leaders (at Highland Park),” he said. “My wife and I and my family trust their discernment, and frankly, that’s enough for us.”

Healy said he trusts that the local leaders understand their church much better than leaders of the denomination.

“Someone that’s not in the middle of it every day watching how the hot dog is made at our hot dog factory tells them differently,” Healy said. “That’s not good business to me, and that’s not strong leadership. …

“I’m personally disappointed that it escalated to this,” he said. “You’d think that out of all the businesses, the business of religion and Christianity would be one of peacekeeping and avoiding any type of public scrutiny.

“So it’s frankly been a disappointment.”

Lamb, a member of the Highland Park choir, is still mulling his decision. He said Robb’s letter has given him some things to think about.

“I was leaning initially … of voting ‘Yes,’ since the leadership, this current council, is recommending it,” Lamb said. “Susan … I thought was very thoughtful and … it’s making me think.”

A rebuttal video from the church was posted on Oct. 21 featuring current senior minister, the Rev. Matt Tuggle, and his immediate predecessors, the Revs. Paul Rasmussen, now pastor-in-residence, and Mark Craig.

“Many of you have asked why mediation isn’t an option,” Rasmussen said in the video. “That’s a fair question, but we have to remember it’s the conference and the bishop that sued us, and they have never come forward to us and offered mediation.”

In a statement accompanying the video, the church leaders said, “A ‘No’ vote does not guarantee additional time, conversations or another opportunity to vote.” 

Highland Park has more than 15,000 members across several campuses, annual income between $20 million and $29 million and has helped launch 41 churches over its 110-year history and given more than $1.5 million to other churches. Its members include former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush.

A longtime church member who requested anonymity said they believe the church will win the vote, likely because the process moved quickly and church members haven’t gotten enough input from the conference.

“I don’t think we’ve ever heard both sides of the story,” they said. “It’s been a fabulous marketing presentation on one side. When we asked the ministers and the council to give us a different side, we never heard back.

“They don’t want a dissenting view, and that’s why I’m voting ‘No.’ … The bishop hasn’t presented his side either. You’ve got to (have) people to ask questions, to challenge you, to ask the hard questions, and none of us have been able to do that.”

Despite its faults, Highland Park “does a lot of good,” they said.

“Mostly, you have discipleship, and so there is a way to get in touch with your spiritual life. … It’s a way to walk your journey, doing mission as well as Scripture through some of their programs.”

In an Oct. 13 letter, Saenz said his concern has always been about governance, never about Highland Park’s faith, its ministry or its people. 

“What we have asked for is narrow. We have asked that Highland Park restore the governance in place before November 2022: reinstate ‘United’ in the church’s legal name, restore references to the Book of Discipline in its governing documents and restore members’ participation in the governance of their church. …

“I don’t want Highland Park to become a different church. I want it to keep being the church it has been for more than a century: a congregation of United Methodist Christians, in covenant with the wider connection, offering Christ to Dallas and the world,” the bishop said in the letter.

Saenz and other Horizon Texas Conference leaders are offering a webinar about the legal dispute at 2 p.m. Central time Oct. 24 to share updates, offer context and address questions ahead of the vote.

The conference also shared a video on Oct. 23 explaining how local United Methodist churches are governed, referencing Acts 15 and the biblical pattern of shared authority that shapes Methodist polity.

“Governance is not a technicality. Governance is a form of love,” Saenz said in the video. “The apostles at Jerusalem did not settle a hard question alone. They did it together, with the elders, with the whole church and with the acknowledgement that it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. 

“And that phrase, ‘and to us,’ is one of the most beautiful in all of Scripture,” he said. “It says that the spirit works through the assembled church, not around it, not above it, through it. And when we honor the structures by which the church assembles — charge conference, church council, district superintendent, annual conference — we’re not honoring a bureaucracy; we’re honoring the way the spirit has chosen to work among us.”

In Highland Park’s clergy video, Tuggle invited church members “to pray, stay informed, ask questions and consider what will best protect the future” of the church.

“We did not seek this moment, but we believe that we’re responsible to lead it faithfully. Our mission continues, our faith remains steadfast and our commitment to this congregation, our city and beyond has never been stronger,” he said. 

Undecided church member Lamb said he has homework to do before voting over the weekend.

“I do want to make an informed decision.”

Patterson is a reporter for UM News. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.