Just when it seemed the fight among Methodists in Dallas couldn’t get stranger, a new lawsuit appears.
A quick review is in order for this to make sense: The 110-year-old Highland Park United Methodist Church unilaterally changed its bylaws in 2022 and the bishop says he didn’t know about it until late last year. He asked the church to change the documents back to reflect Methodist governance as required in the Book of Discipline. The church refused to do so.
The bishop sued the church over the changes, then the church called a snap vote on disaffiliation with The United Methodist Church, which passed on a 90% affirmative vote. The existing church declared its new name would be Highland Park Methodist Church, dropping the word “United.”
The bishop responded by appointing a new pastor for Highland Park United Methodist Church, a sort of church in exile that for the last two weeks has met at another nearby UMC church.
The church in exile that’s calling itself Highland Park United Methodist Church at worship. (Photo courtesty of Horizon Texas Conference)
Two new things have happened: The church in exile found a new home on the campus of Southern Methodist University — about 500 feet from the original church’s Gothic building. And then Highland Park Methodist Church filed suit against Highland Park United Methodist Church for stealing the name they abandoned.
The new meeting location for the church in exile is Prothro Hall, located within Perkins School of Theology on the SMU campus. Highland Park Methodist Church is visible out the window, across a parking lot.
The Horizon Texas Conference of the UMC posted about this new venue on its Facebook page: “The hall will offer the congregation a welcoming space with room to grow as they worship at one of The United Methodist Church’s seminaries. Perkins’ hospitality is also one of the many ways United Methodists across our connection have surrounded Highland Park with care and support in recent days. Churches have offered musicians and groups to support worship, conference care and healing leaders are organizing a grief group, and messages of prayer and encouragement have come from across the connection.”
None of this sits well with the leaders of Highland Park Methodist Church.
In a 24-page legal filing in Dallas County Court, the original church contends it will suffer irreparable harm by what it considers a “new” church appropriating not only its former name but its graphic “mark.”
It wants the court to deny the church in exile use of the names “Highland Park United Methodist Church,” “Highland Park Methodists,” “Highland Park UMC” and “HPUMC,” among others. And it wants the court to deny the church in exile use of the graphic mark associated with Highland Park United Methodist Church.
The bishop’s response is that only United Methodist congregations may use the words “United Methodist” in their names. He also contends the church in exile is the officially sanctioned congregation of the UMC that carries the 110-year history.
The church’s lawsuit complains that “instead of promoting the absorption of this small group (that voted against disaffiliation) into any of the many local UMC churches, plaintiff decided to start a brand-new congregation using the church’s longstanding trademark and legally registered name.”
Related:
Highland Park Methodist’s story is not a first | Analysis by Mark Wingfield
Today’s UMC has only 3 megachurches | Analysis by Mark Wingfield
In Dallas, Methodist bishop creates a church in exile
Highland Park Methodist and the death of denominationalism | Analysis by Mark Wingfield
3 reasons all churches should pay attention to HPUMC right now | Analysis by Mark Wingfield
Dallas megachurch overwhelmingly votes to leave UMC
The nondenominationalizing of American Christianity | Opinion by Bill Leonard