Latest: Highland Park Church Votes to Leave United Methodist Church as Bishop Appoints New Pastor

Of the 4,775 ballots cast, 90.35 percent said leave. That one number, announced on 26 October 2026, has now split one of the largest Methodist congregations in America into two rival stories about who leads it, who owns its buildings, and where its people will worship on Sunday morning.

Members of Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas voted on 25 and 26 October to sever all ties with The United Methodist Church, according to a letter from the church council reported by UM News and the Christian Post. About one-third of the congregation's roughly 15,000 members took part in the vote. The church, which began on the Southern Methodist University campus 110 years ago, said it would begin worshipping as Highland Park Methodist Church.

On Thursday 29 October, Horizon Texas Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. announced that he had appointed the Rev. Andy Lewis to serve as pastor of Highland Park United Methodist Church, and that he had reappointed the church's current senior minister, the Rev. Matt Tuggle, to other duties. The bishop rejected the congregation's vote as illegitimate, saying a congregational vote alone cannot sever a local church's relationship with the denomination.

Saenz said Lewis and Highland Park members who remain loyal to the United Methodist Church will gather for worship elsewhere for now. He named University Park United Methodist Church, which has invited those members to worship there with Lewis on 1 November.

Highland Park Vote: 90.35 Percent Back Leaving the UMC

The church council's letter, quoted by UM News, told members that the decision had not been easy for everyone. It said that for many it was painful and emotional, and for others it was straightforward, but that the church would continue to operate as it has and remain united by its identity and mission in Christ rather than divided by its differences.

“Beginning this Sunday, we will worship as Highland Park Methodist Church, with the commitment to protect the mission, ministry, and future of our Church while still honoring our history and past,” the council said in its announcement. It added that work to put the seperation into practice would begin in the coming weeks, with a goal of finishing by 1 December 2026.

The council had unanimously adopted a resolution on 15 October calling for the churchwide vote and recommending that members approve leaving. In the days before the vote, more than 40 United Methodist clergy with ties to Highland Park urged members to vote no, saying there was no reason to vote at all while church law and the civil legal process ran their course.

Bishop Saenz Rejects Vote and Appoints Andy Lewis

“As we navigate the ongoing court proceedings and questions surrounding Highland Park's governance and property, we will gather for worship at University Park United Methodist Church,” Saenz said. “Out of respect for everyone involved, and to avoid unnecessary conflict while these matters are resolved, we will worship there temporarily as we continue caring for one another and moving forward together.”

The bishop has said he will listen to our congregation, and our congregation has spoken loud and clear.

That was the response from Highland Park's church council, which called the bishop's decision a retaliatory move. The council said the bishop's declaration changes nothing for the congregation, and that on Sunday it will worship as usual with its clergy, including Senior Minister Matt Tuggle at the pulpit, at its church on the corner of Mockingbird and Hillcrest.

Highland Park Lawsuit and the December 1 Separation Goal

The vote occured more than two months after the Horizon Texas Conference sued Highland Park in Dallas County District Court in August 2026. The conference argued that changes the church council made to Highland Park's bylaws in 2022 improperly removed oversight by the denomination and by the church's own members, including by eliminating references to The United Methodist Church and the Book of Discipline from its governing documents.

A non-jury trial in the case is set for 12 October 2027, according to UM News. Until then, the dispute turns on a centuries-old trust clause, first established by Methodism founder John Wesley, under which church property is held in trust for the benefit of the denomination. People can leave a church at any time, UM News explained, but they cannot take property with them.

Readers following church governance and religious freedom disputes can see related coverage in the Supreme Court hearing on a Catholic preschool case in Colorado, in the Virginia pastor suing over a same-sex marriage amendment, in the church that opened again in northern England after 15 years closed, and in the report that Russia destroyed 737 churches in Ukraine while faith keeps growing.

For now, two invitations stand for Sunday 1 November in Dallas. One is to gather at University Park with a newly appointed pastor. The other is to gather at Mockingbird and Hillcrest with the pastor the congregation has known, under a new name the bishop does not recognise.

The congregation has voted, the bishop has ruled, and the court has not yet spoken.

Will the people who voted to leave and the people who want to stay find a way to share one building, or will Highland Park spend the next year worshipping apart while lawyers argue over who owns the ground beneath the pews? The next answer comes on Sunday morning, when both doors open at once, and the one after that comes from a judge in October 2027.

But the most surprising part of this story is yet to come — keep reading.