Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. says he has appointed a new senior pastor at Highland Park United Methodist Church and has reappointed Matt Tuggle and Paul Rasmussen “to other duties” following a congregational vote in which the church council says 90.35% of voters opted to leave the denomination.
Saenz Jr., of the Horizon Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church, said in a press release that he’s appointed Andy Lewis as senior pastor at Highland Park United Methodist Church effective Oct. 29, and that University Park United Methodist Church agreed to host members of the nearby HPUMC temporarily starting Nov. 1.
Saenz shared in a post on social media that Lewis is an ordained elder who had most recently served as assistant to the bishop.
HPUMC has been a congregation of the United Methodist Church or its predecessors for 110 years.
Immediately following the two-day voting process on Oct. 26, the Horizon Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church said in a statement that “a congregational vote does not, by itself, sever a local church’s relationship with the United Methodist Church.”
Conference officials said a framework under the Book of Discipline that allowed for disaffiliation amid a schism around issues such as the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy and the performance of same-sex marriages expired on Dec. 31, 2023.
“We will not walk away from you. Our goal remains a vibrant United Methodist church at the corner of Hillcrest and Mockingbird: a congregation governed as a United Methodist church, connected to the wider church and open to all. We will keep pursuing that goal faithfully, patiently and through every proper path available to us. This is not the end of the story,” Saenz wrote.
HPUMC’s Church Council had called for a congregational vote on whether or not the church should separate from the denomination earlier this month following an August lawsuit filed by the conference over HPUMC’s governing documents and had recommended a vote to leave the denomination.
Following the vote, HPUMC shared in a statement that the congregation would begin worshipping as Highland Park Methodist Church Sunday, Nov. 1.
“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 shared in a statement after the vote. “This was not an easy decision, and we know it has not been made lightly. For many of us, it is a painful, difficult, and emotional decision. For others, the decision was straightforward. 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.”
The lawsuit filed by the Horizon Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church, a regional governing body which covers North Texas, stems from changes the 100-plus-year-old church’s leadership made to its governing documents in 2022 and 2023.
Among the changes specifically at issue is HPUMC’s changing its corporate name filed with the Office of the Secretary of State from “Highland Park United Methodist Church” to “Highland Park Methodist Church” in 2022.
The lawsuit further alleges that HPUMC also adopted amended bylaws that year, which “i) remove all references to The United Methodist Church, the Conference, and the Discipline; ii) remove the rights of HP Church members to participate in any matter ‘affecting or involving the Church’; and iii) remove the members’ right to participate in determining the denomination of HP Church, including selection of the Church Council.”
HPUMC has said in a statement on its website that the church changed its corporate documents in accordance with guidance in 2020 from Texas courts “on managing church affairs under neutral principles of Texas law,” and that HPUMC worked with the conference on the corporate name change. HPUMC further stated that the church’s Charge Conference voted unanimously to delegate governance to the Church Council in 1998.
People Newspapers has reached back out to HPUMC and to UPUMC for comment and will update this story as new information becomes available.
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