Highland Park United Methodist Church’s church council has called for a congregational vote on whether or not the church should “sever all of its ties, affiliations, and connections to The United Methodist Church.” The move comes after the Horizon Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church filed a lawsuit against the church over its governing documents.
Highland Park United Methodist Church’s leadership had asked the congregation to consider the possibility of a vote on its continued affilation with the United Methodist Church during a town hall meeting on Oct. 11.
The church announced on Oct. 15 that the council unanimously adopted an ecclesiastical resolution calling for a church-wide vote on the issue and recommending a “yes” vote on the following question: “Shall Highland Park Methodist Church, doing business as Highland Park United Methodist Church, sever all of its ties, affiliations, and connections to The United Methodist Church?”
The vote will be held in person at HPUMC on October 25 and October 26. For more information about the voting process and procedures, click here.
“The Conference has consistently made it clear that it will no longer honor the governance structure that has been integral to our success as a Church. The Church Council believes the Conference and its bishop have irrevocably broken the bond of trust that once existed between our Church and The United Methodist Church,” a statement on the church’s website reads. “We want to be clear about what this decision means for our Church’s identity and future. HPUMC’s Methodist identity is grounded in our faith, our Wesleyan theological tradition, and the ministry to which God has called us. Regardless of the vote’s outcome, none of this will change. Our theology, our commitment to following Jesus Christ, and our mission to help people become deeply devoted followers of Jesus Christ will continue.”
Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. of the Horizon Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church in a letter shared on his social media page Tuesday that he’s “grateful that (HPUMC’s) leaders want members to have a voice.”
“Covenant isn’t about control. It’s a promise to hold onto one another with love that is both truthful and patient,” Saenz continued.
HPUMC has been a congregation of the United Methodist Church or its predecessors for 110 years.
The church council’s meeting and potential vote on whether or not to remain part of the United Methodist Church come after the Horizon Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church filed the lawsuit on Aug. 10.
The lawsuit by the conference, 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.”
“The specific restoration includes the reinstatement of “United” in the church’s full legal name, the reinstatement of references to the Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church in the governing documents, and the restoration of members’ participation in the governance and leadership of their church. These are not simply issues of corporate structure, they protect the voices of Highland Park’s members in the decisions of its leadership and reflect the congregation’s place within the wider United Methodist connection,” Saenz had said in a previous letter to church leadership. “I make this request not as a matter of episcopal preference or institutional convenience. I make it because the covenants of order and accountability we share are part of what it means to be United Methodist. The restoration I am asking for is not a submission to authority; it is a return to the covenants Highland Park has long shared with thousands of other United Methodist congregations across our Conference and connection.”
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.
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