Here’s how this looks to a Baptist outsider with more than average knowledge of The United Methodist Church: The denomination’s second-largest church intentionally changed its governing documents to allow the possibility of withdrawing from the UMC. And once the denomination learned about and objected to that quiet change, the church is threatening indeed to leave.
Based on this logic, if Bishop Reuben Saenz had just left well enough alone, Highland Park United Methodist Church would have had the escape hatch it wanted without anyone needing to know about it or worry about it.
The dramatic legal dispute between the North Dallas church and the Horizon Texas Conference of the UMC boils down to who knew what when. Church leaders claim the conference knew about the changes and didn’t object to them. The bishop says that’s not the case.
Now, in the latest town hall meeting held Oct. 12, church leaders openly discussed the possibility of withdrawing from the denomination — the very thing the governing document changes were to make possible.
If HPUMC were to leave, the current legal battle would pale in comparison to the one to come because HPUMC is the wealthiest church in the denomination, with hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, especially real estate.
Here in Dallas, people who live outside the Park Cities frequently talk about the “bubble” they think residents of Highland Park and University Park live in. These two neighborhoods are among the most affluent and desirable in all the DFW Metroplex.
Critics of HPUMC’s changes to its governing documents — even some area Methodist clergy — see this dispute as further evidence of the bubble of (mainly white) privilege that comes with living in and going to church in the Park Cities. Here is a church that thinks it is better than other UMC churches, they say.
Church leaders, however, continue to maintain this is not about privilege but about responsibility: They have a fiduciary responsibility to manage and maintain the church’s assets.
“Do not forget that HPUMC probably has more lawyers and financial managers per capita than most other UMC congregations.”
Do not forget that HPUMC probably has more lawyers and financial managers per capita than most other UMC congregations. And these are people who spend their workdays protecting corporate assets.
But that’s not the way Methodists have done business.
As we’ve reported over and over, this dispute is rooted in the UMC’s Book of Discipline and something called the “trust clause” that gives the denomination ownership of all UMC congregations’ real assets to be “held in trust” for the church at large. You can leave the denomination, but you can’t take your property with you — unless you’re willing to pay.
When Bishop Saenz sued the Dallas church to demand a return to governing documents that honor the Book of Discipline and the trust clause, church leaders fought back. Some church leaders have said their church is above the Book of Discipline and cannot abide by it. Others have said the changes were made within what’s allowed by the Book of Discipline.
And then there are complex questions about how the land the church sits on was acquired and handed down, how that relates to Southern Methodist University and what can be sorted out by a secular court versus what is too much internal church business for a court to take on.
With tensions at a boiling point, Caroline Nowlin, chair of the 23-member Church Council, told the town hall meeting, “The question is: Knowing what we know now, should our church remain part of The United Methodist Church?”
The council will meet today, Oct. 13, to discuss that question.
“As we’ve told you, we won’t make this decision alone. We’ll make it with you. If the church council recommends severing our ties with The United Methodist Church, the decision to do so would come to a vote to you,” she said at the town hall meeting, attended by about 800 people.
“We’re left wondering why church leaders won’t attempt to meet the bishop at least halfway.”
Senior Pastor Matt Tuggle told the town hall attendees if the church opts to leave the UMC, it would remain Methodist. “Our mission, our commitment to local churches, it would remain exactly the same,” he said.
Rather than affiliating with the UMC, the Dallas church might form a network with other like-minded churches, he said. Several such breakaway Methodist groups already have been formed in the last few years.
Again, from an outsider’s perspective, we’re left wondering why church leaders won’t attempt to meet the bishop at least halfway. What other reason could they have for keeping the escape hatch open if they don’t intend to escape?
Dallas County Judge Bridgett Whitmore has set Oct. 12, 2027, as the date for the trial to resolve the bishop’s claims against the church. It is unlikely that court date will hold, however, because new developments in the nationally watched dispute are rolling out quickly.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global.
Related:
HPUMC sought to be ‘legally insulated’ from UMC strife
UMC sues Dallas church for making unilateral governance changes
Lawsuit asks, ‘What does it take to be a good United Methodist church?’ | Analysis by Mark Wingfield
Does Methodist connectionalism serve large and small churches equally? | Analysis by Mark Wingfield
HPUMC case tests limits of United Methodist connectionalism | Analysis by Mark Wingfield