Texas megachurch leaders urge members to cut ties with UMC; vote set for later this month

Leaders of one of the largest and most prominent congregations in the United Methodist Church (UMC) have called for a churchwide vote on severing all ties with the mainline denomination.

On Tuesday, the Dallas-area Highland Park United Methodist Church (HPUMC) Church Council voted unanimously to adopt an ecclesiastical resolution that asks the congregation: “Shall Highland Park Methodist Church, doing business as Highland Park United Methodist Church, sever all of its ties, affiliations, and connections to The United Methodist Church?”

The resolution states that the Church Council “has reached the conclusion that the time is right to recommend that the Church sever all affiliation with the UMC while preserving the historic ministry and mission of the Church and continuing the Church’s faithful adherence to Wesleyan Methodist theological tradition.”

Last month, HPUMC responded to a lawsuit brought by the UMC’s Horizon Texas Annual Conference over changes church leaders made to HPUMC’s governing documents.

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.

In an Oct. 15 letter, the Church Council stressed that the vote is a church decision about denominational affiliation. It said the vote is separate from the civil questions before the court about the corporate amendments, which “can and will be resolved solely under neutral principles of civil law, as Texas courts require.”

“We are in an important time of prayer, discernment, and decision-making about HPUMC’s future,” the letter states. “At the heart of this dispute is our Church’s longstanding right to govern itself effectively in ways that best serve our congregation and allow us to carry out our Church’s ministry. For more than 26 years, our governance structure has enabled us to do just that.”

The letter affirms that “regardless of the outcome of the Church-Wide Vote, the Church will remain a Methodist Church deeply rooted in and adhering to the Wesleyan Methodist theological tradition as it fulfills its ministry and mission to help people become deeply devoted followers of Christ.”

The council recommended a “Yes” vote, calling it “the only way to preserve our longstanding right to self-governance while protecting our Church's historic ministry and mission.”

The vote is scheduled for Oct. 25 and 26 at the church’s Highland Park campus. Professing members on the church’s attendance rolls as of Oct. 25 are eligible to vote, according to HPUMC.

Horizon Texas Conference Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr., who previously said he approaches the dispute not as an adversary but as the congregation’s bishop, reiterated his commitment to HPUMC in a pastoral letter Tuesday.

“Stay with what's known and resist rumor. Be careful online,” he wrote. “Make room for people who see this differently, because they belong here too.”