Highland Park UMC dispute with regional conference over governance, not doctrine: court filing
A Texas megachurch says its legal dispute with a regional conference of the United Methodist Church (UMC) centers on corporate governance, not religious doctrine.
Dallas-area Highland Park United Methodist Church (HPUMC) has filed a formal response and counterclaim in a lawsuit brought by the UMC’s Horizon Texas Annual Conference. The church argues that 2022 amendments to its corporate documents were lawful under Texas law and that the conference’s claims should be dismissed.
In court documents filed Sept. 21 in Dallas County District Court, the church, also known as Highland Park Methodist Church Inc., maintains that its church council, acting as the corporation’s board of directors, properly amended and restated the church’s articles of incorporation and bylaws in November 2022. The council approved the changes unanimously, though the church’s governing documents required only a two-thirds majority of the council and no outside denominational approval.
The church cited Texas Supreme Court decisions, including Masterson v. Diocese of Northwest Texas and related cases, which hold that courts must apply “neutral principles” of corporate law to governance disputes, meaning the same rules that apply to any secular organization, even when religious bodies are involved.
HPUMC is asking the court to declare that the amendments are valid and remain in force. It is also seeking dismissal of the conference’s claims through a Rule 91a motion, which allows a Texas court to throw out claims that have no basis in law or fact, and a plea to the jurisdiction, which challenges the court’s authority to hear the claims.
In a statement posted on its website the same day as the filing, HPUMC said the 2022 updates were administrative steps taken as it chose to remain in the UMC during a period when more than 7,600 congregations left the denomination under a now-expired denominational disaffiliation policy amid a schism on LGBT issues.
“We also knew that we needed to protect our congregation’s ability to thrive, no matter what happened in the future to our conference or denomination,” the statement said.
The statement added that the changes were made “under the corporate governance procedures established in our existing documents and with the guidance of corporate counsel.”
According to the church, HPUMC notified the Horizon Texas Conference of the name change and amendments in early 2023 and provided copies of the filings. The church said the conference and the denomination’s General Council on Finance and Administration confirmed that HPUMC remained covered under the UMC’s group tax exemption.
HPUMC said it continued to participate fully in the denomination, including paying apportionments, the annual financial contributions churches make to the conference, and that the conference raised no concerns about its governance structure until October 2025.
The conference later filed both a formal complaint against the church’s senior minister and the civil lawsuit. Church leaders said they met with the bishop in early August without being told a lawsuit was imminent and learned of the filing only after it became public.
“We remain committed to responding with truth, transparency, and integrity — to the legal proceedings, to the denomination’s process involving our senior minister, and most importantly, to our congregation,” the HPUMC statement said.
A town hall for HPUMC members is scheduled for Oct. 11.
The Horizon Texas Annual Conference has not yet publicly responded to the church’s court filing. The filing is the latest development in a legal dispute that began after negotiations between HPUMC and the conference failed.
In August, the Rev. Matt Tuggle, HPUMC’s senior minister, told congregants that church leaders had not directly addressed the lawsuit, which the Horizon Texas Conference filed Aug. 10 in Dallas County District Court, because they were “caught off-guard” by the suit.
In an Aug. 26 video message to the HPUMC congregation, Horizon Texas Conference Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. said he approaches the dispute not as an adversary but as their bishop.
Saenz said he was “grieved” by the dispute. Comparing his feelings to the Apostle Paul’s deep concern for the church in Galatia, described in the New Testament, he said, “[Paul] told them, ‘I wish I could be present with you now.’ I understand that longing, and I wish I could be with you to listen to you, speak with you directly, and walk through this difficult moment together.”
Saenz also said he understands the pain surrounding the lawsuit and hopes the longstanding relationship between HPUMC and the UMC can be restored.
