(RNS) — In a special vote on Sunday and Monday (Oct. 25-26), members of one of the largest United Methodist churches in the country elected to leave the denomination, setting up what is likely to be a prolonged court challenge.
Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas / Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Creative Commons
Following two days of in-person voting by 4,775 of the 15,000 members of Dallas’ Highland Park United Methodist Church, some 90% elected to withdraw from the United Methodist Church. The church did not provide the exact vote count.
The move comes in response to a heated dispute between the church and the denomination’s regional governing body. In August, that regional governing body, called the Horizon Texas Conference, sued Highland Park over changes that the church made to its governing documents that attempted to chart a more independent course. Those changes removed “United Methodist” from the church’s legal name and gave the church council authority to make broad decisions typically made by the denomination.
Membership at the 110-year-old church, in the tony University Park neighborhood adjacent to the Perkins School of Theology on the campus of Southern Methodist University, includes many prominent Dallas business and civic leaders, including former President George W. Bush.
The church’s three senior ministers, Matt Tuggle, Paul Rasmussen and Mark Craig, all recommended breaking away.
“Based on these results, the congregation has voted to follow the recommendation of the Church Council and separate from the United Methodist Church,” a statement posted to the church website reads. “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.”
Highland Park UMC on Wed., Aug. 26, 2026, in Dallas / RNS photo/Ellie Ashby
But the vote by the church membership is not a recognized step toward disaffiliation in the United Methodist rulebook.
As the Horizon Texas Conference said in a statement: “While individuals are free to make their own decisions about their religious affiliation, a congregational vote does not, by itself, sever a local church’s relationship with The United Methodist Church.”
From 2019 to the end of 2023, the United Methodist Church allowed churches to leave the denomination with their property as part of a temporary exit clause. Some 7,800 churches left, most of them conservative ones that had theological differences with the denomination related to issues of human sexuality.
But that period ended three years ago, and there is now no formal pathway in the church’s rulebook — the Book of Discipline — for churches to leave with their property.
Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr., of the Horizon Texas Conference, reiterated that point in his statement: “… the Book of Discipline does not authorize a local church to unilaterally sever this covenantal relationship.”
Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. addresses Highland Park UMC congregation in a video released Wed., Aug. 26, 2026 / Video screen grab
That means that Texas courts will likely have to step in to issue a ruling. Although the denomination has already filed a lawsuit, it said it might take further action. Highland Park church leaders said they believe recent changes in state law governing nonprofits will favor the church.
Also left to be sorted out is the future of Highland Park’s clergy. United Methodist clergy are bound to the denomination through a covenant. If pastors choose to withdraw from the UMC, they immediately lose the right to serve a United Methodist congregation.
In Highland Park’s case, theology never emerged as a reason for its differences with the denomination. The church did not attempt to disaffiliate during the four-year window when it was possible to do so. The presenting issue has more to do with control and governance.
In some cases, churches the size of Highland Park maintain they don’t want or need a bishop’s oversight or the connections to other smaller congregations that membership in a denomination brings. They are big enough to chart their own course.
The church stated it wants to become an independent Methodist Church. In its statement, the church council said it will remain united by the mission in Christ, “rather than divided by our differences.”
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