Key Points:
- Highland Park United Methodist’s church council declared it no longer recognizes the authority of its bishop and conference.
- The church council also said it would take steps to protect its clergy from punitive action.
- The resolution comes as the Horizon Texas Conference and the Dallas megachurch are in a legal standoff over church-governance issues.
Highland Park United Methodist leaders are intensifying their reaction to Horizon Texas Conference’s lawsuit on church-governance issues.
Calling the legal action a “profound betrayal,” the Dallas congregation’s church council unanimously passed a resolution saying the church through its council “no longer recognizes ecclesiastical authority of the bishop and conference to direct the Church or its Clergy.”
The resolution goes on to say the church council especially wanted to protect the church’s clergy from “punitive action.”
However, the resolution stops short of declaring the Dallas megachurch independent of the broader United Methodist denomination. In fact, much of the resolution emphasizes the church’s commitment to The United Methodist Church.
The resolution also says that “it is incumbent upon the Church Council to lead and to provide its best counsel…; to defend the congregation; to protect our Clergy … and to inform the congregation of these events and acts toward our Church.”
The church council’s authority is at the heart of the dispute.
In a lawsuit filed in Dallas civil court Aug. 10, the Horizon Texas Conference challenges changes that the church council made to the church’s governing documents in 2022. Those changes remove “United Methodist” from the church’s legal name and give broad decision-making rights to the church council, which now can choose its own members.
Under the changes, the suit argues, the church council and pastor-parish relations committee have sole authority over matters such as pastoral oversight, church mission and denominational affiliation without input from the conference or wider congregation.
“The conference is seeking the straightforward restoration of the church’s governing documents to United Methodist polity so its United Methodist identity and the voice of its congregation are protected for generations to come,” the conference said in an Aug. 21 statement to UM News.
Subscribe to our
e-newsletter
“A local church council cannot unilaterally decide for an entire congregation that it will no longer recognize the ecclesiastical authority of The United Methodist Church. The conference will continue to respond with love, care and grace for the people of Highland Park, whose voice and United Methodist connection deserve to be protected.”
The resolution comes after both its current senior minister, the Rev. Matt Tuggle, and his immediate predecessor and now pastor-in-resident, the Rev. Paul Rasmussen, in recent days have expressed their grief and frustration with the litigation that they say blindsided church leaders.
The church council has 21 voting members including the senior minister. The resolution says Tuggle abstained from the vote.
The church council’s resolution also accuses conference leaders, including Bishop Rubén Saenz Jr., of breaking trust with church leadership. Saenz, who has led what is now the Horizon Texas Conference since 2023, is also president of the denomination’s Council of Bishops.
The conference says it met for months with church leadership trying to resolve the conflict before heading to court.
The resolution concludes by noting that the lawsuit involves a civil matter that will be settled by neutral principles of Texas law.
The “ecclesiastical and religious Resolution and its directives, including the protection and maintenance of our Clergy,” are separate from the civil questions before the court, the resolution says.
What no one disputes is that Highland Park United Methodist, the largest in Horizon Texas, is a beloved congregation.
“Bishop Saenz and the Horizon Texas Conference love Highland Park United Methodist Church and its people,” the conference said. “Highland Park is a strong, thriving church with committed Christ followers, faithful United Methodist clergy and generations of extraordinary ministry. Our love and care for generations of United Methodists, past, present and future, are what compel us to act.”
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.
