If a Methodist church does not recognize the authority of its regional conference or its bishop, is that congregation still a United Methodist church?
In its legal dispute with the Horizon West Conference of The United Methodist Church, Highland Park United Methodist Church is pushing boundaries not often tested in the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination.
On Sept. 4, the Dallas megachurch released a new statement on its dispute with the bishop and conference over changes made to the church’s governing documents in 2022 that were not publicly known until recently.
The gist of the statement is that if the church had wanted to leave the UMC it would have done so in 2022. But it didn’t.
“In 2022, HPUMC chose to remain part of our connectional family, during a period when more than 7,600 churches ultimately left The United Methodist Church. We did not want to leave our denomination, and we had no dispute with the conference,” the updated statement begins.
Then it offers more explanation for why the governing documents were quietly amended that same year: “During this period, there was significant uncertainty within the denomination, including ongoing legal disputes involving UMC-related institutions such as our historic partner and neighbor, SMU. We needed to make sure that our congregation was legally protected, even as we maintained our religious and ecclesiastical connections.
“We needed to make sure that our congregation was legally protected, even as we maintained our religious and ecclesiastical connections.”
“That meant making sure that our corporate bylaws and articles were in line with the latest guidance from the Texas Supreme Court. In 2020, the Texas Supreme Court made clear that courts would not accept religious terms or doctrinal rules embedded in corporate documents. Churches that wished to protect their legal rights needed to make sure their corporate papers were corporate, not religious.”
Those changes — including removing the word “united” from the church’s legal name and removing denominational control over church assets and policy — were made “not because we wanted to leave, but because we saw the litigation and discord around us,” the statement says. “We needed to know — if litigation or other troubles ever reached our doorstep — we had the corporate papers in place that would stand the test of time and protect our congregation’s ability to thrive, no matter what happened in the future to our conference, or denomination in five, 10 or 50 years.”
The new statement repeats the church leaders’ claim that despite changes to legal documents, “nothing had changed” in the relationship between the church and denomination. Denominational leaders, including the bishop, disagree with that statement.
Once again, here’s the rub: Methodist churches are not like Baptist churches or nondenominational churches that practice autonomy. United Methodist churches are — by design from the beginning — “connectional” in nature. That means the denomination, mainly through regional bishops, appoints ordained clergy, directs major policy requirements and owns “in trust” all church property.
These connectional bonds were challenged repeatedly by churches departing the UMC in 2025 but it remains unusual for a church that says it wants to remain in the UMC to seek the level of autonomy HPUMC desires.
As of today, the lawsuit filed by the bishop against the church remains active, while the Church Council in a previous statement said it will “no longer recognize the ecclesiastical authority of the bishop and conference in the dispute.
The conference also has filed a formal complaint against HPUMC Senior Minister Matt Tuggle that remains unresolved.
All the parties are still disputing who knew what when.
The case was filed in Dallas County District Court 193rd Judicial District. The court has said additional information must be filed before Oct. 7 at 1:30 p.m. or the case will be dismissed from the docket.
Related:
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