{"id":478393,"date":"2026-10-27T18:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T18:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/478393\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T18:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T18:22:10","slug":"why-one-of-texas-richest-mega-churches-just-voted-to-leave-the-methodists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/478393\/","title":{"rendered":"Why one of Texas’ richest mega churches just voted to leave the Methodists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did disagreements over the handling of LGBTQ issues lead to one of Texas’ largest congregations <\/a>voting to leave the United Methodist Church<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Highland Park United Methodist (HPUM), the extremely popular and affluent Methodist church in Dallas that has boasted membership from the likes of George W. Bush and Ross Perot, is leaving the United Methodist Church (UMC). The vote to leave the governing body of the Methodist church comes after the UMC filed a lawsuit in August against the HPUM, alleging that church leadership was attempting to sever ties with the denomination by altering its bylaws.<\/p>\n

The vote was held on Oct. 25, with 90.35 percent of the nearly 5000 entires voting “yes”<\/a> to separate from the UMC. The church has an average attendance of over 5,000 members, with its official membership numbers exceeding over 15,000.<\/p>\n

A long-running fight over LGBTQ inclusion<\/p>\n

The United Methodist Church has long dealt with a schism that saw more than 7,600 conservative-leaning churches across the country leave the denomination from 2019 to 2023. The primary issue was the ordaining and marrying of LGBTQ people within the church. Texas, a major stronghold for the Methodist Church, saw 40 percent of churches opt to leave the UMC. Notably, Highland Park opted not to split in 2023, staying in the UMC.<\/p>\n

In 2024, a vote in the United Methodist Church removed restrictions on same-sex unions and gay clergy, but it did not mandate that clergy perform same-sex unions. Shortly after, Rev. Paul Rasmussen, a former senior minister at Highland Park UMC, declared that while he would not perform same-sex marriages at the church, other pastors could perform same sex marraiges at other locations.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People vote at the Tolleson Family Activity Center of Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas, Sunday, October 25, 2026. The vote was to determine on whether to leave the United Methodist Church, its denomination of more than 100 years. (Anja Schlein\/The Dallas Morning News)<\/p>\n

Highland Park revised its bylaws in 2022 as churches exited the UMC denomination, raising questions about whether the Dallas church would opt to leave or stay. The alteration to its bylaws gave Highland Park decision-making power that is reserved for the overarching denomination. The church also removed language about the UMC and the church’s legal and constitutional mandate, the Book of Discipline, from all of Highland Park’s governing text.<\/p>\n

The big question over the split is whether Highland Park will still accept gay and lesbian pastors and still perform same sex marriages if it leaves the UMC. Highland Park has stated the split is not about LGBTQ issues.<\/p>\n

“One matter where we agree with the bishop and the conference \u2013 this is not about LGBTQ issues,” the church said in a statement before the vote on Oct. 22. “We are 48 hours from holding a historic vote for our Church, and this is about nothing other than governance.”<\/p>\n

What will happen now?<\/p>\n

The vote does not ensure a clean split from the UMC. The Horizon Texas Annual Conference, the regional governing body of the United Methodist Church that filed the lawsuit against Highland Park, has stated that the denomination’s governing text does not allow individual churches to unilaterally sever ties.<\/p>\n

\"Highland<\/p>\n

Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas, Sunday, October 25, 2026. The church is voting on whether to leave the United Methodist Church, its denomination of more than 100 years. (Anja Schlein\/The Dallas Morning News)<\/p>\n

“While individuals are free to make their own decisions about their religious affiliation, a congregational vote does not, by itself, sever a local church’s relationship with The United Methodist Church,” the conference said in a statement on Oct. 26.<\/p>\n

A main point of contention for Highland Park and its attempt to become independent concerns the church property and financial holdings. The Horizon conference has stated that the denomination holds church property in trust. In 2019, when the UMC allowed churches to leave the denomination, agreements allowed the now-independent churches to keep their church property.<\/p>\n

Highgland park is located on extremely valuable real estate, located right next to Southern Methodist University in one of the wealthiest zip codes in the United States. Unlike much of the UMC<\/a>, Highland Park has thrived financially, and its push for independence is likely tied to that success. The church said they are “confident” in their legal position regarding the church property and assets.<\/p>\n

More News<\/p>\n

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For the latest and best from Chron, sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally published at Why one of Texas’ richest mega churches just voted to leave the Methodists<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Did disagreements over the handling of LGBTQ issues lead to one of Texas’ largest congregations voting to leave…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-478393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}