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<\/p>\nChurch says they will stay.<\/p>\n
(RNS) \u2014 The bishop overseeing Dallas\u2019 Highland Park United Methodist Church removed the current and former senior ministers of the congregation on Thursday (Oct. 29) and provided a new pastor to lead worship at a different location, in yet another escalation in the fight between the denomination and the church.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. addresses the Highland Park UMC congregation in a video released Wed., Aug. 26, 2026 \/ Video screen grab<\/p>\n
Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr., responding to the church vote earlier<\/a> this week to break away from the United Methodist Church, wrote in two letters \u2014 one to church members and one to its leaders \u2014 that the congregational vote to withdraw was invalid.<\/p>\n \u201cA congregational vote or action of the Church Council cannot, by itself, terminate the congregation\u2019s connection to the denomination,\u201d Saenz wrote.<\/p>\n Members of the church voted overwhelmingly on Sunday and Monday to withdraw from the United Methodist Church to which it has belonged for 110 years.<\/p>\n The church, one of the wealthiest and largest in the denomination, then issued a statement acknowledging its separation and saying it would henceforth worship as \u201cHighland Park Methodist Church,\u201d minus the \u201cUnited.\u201d It plans to remain Methodist or Wesleyan in its theology and teachings.<\/p>\n But the vote by the church membership is not a recognized step toward severing ties with the denominational rulebook, the bishop argued.<\/p>\n Saenz, the bishop of the Horizon Texas Conference, a regional United Methodist group, declined interviews. His letter said he was removing the Rev. Matt Tuggle, senior minister, and the Rev. Paul Rasmussen, former senior minister, \u201cfrom all positions\u201d at the church, effective Thursday.<\/p>\n Writing separately to the minority of church members who voted to remain in the denomination, he reassured them that he had not abandoned them and wanted to provide them a place to continue worshipping. He designated University Park United Methodist Church, less than three miles away, as that site, and his chief of staff, Andy Lewis, as their pastor.<\/p>\n However, in a statement, Highland Park\u2019s church council said its pastors will remain.<\/p>\n Access to MinistryWatch content is free.\u00a0However, we hope you will support our work with your prayers and financial gifts.\u00a0To make a donation,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis Sunday, we will worship as usual with our clergy, including our Senior Minister, Rev. Matt Tuggle at the pulpit \u2013 at our Church on the corner of Mockingbird and Hillcrest,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n The statement described the bishop\u2019s move to remove its clergy as \u201cretaliatory,\u201d and said it was \u201cone more example of the irrevocable broken bond of trust that once existed between our Church and The United Methodist Church.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear now whether the denomination will bring charges against Highland Park\u2019s clergy. United Methodist clergy are bound to the denomination through a covenant. If pastors choose to withdraw from the UMC, they immediately lose the right to serve a United Methodist congregation.<\/p>\n Highland Park, a massive gothic edifice, lies adjacent to the Perkins School of Theology on the campus of Southern Methodist University. It includes many prominent Dallas business and civic leaders, including former President George W. Bush.<\/p>\n The dispute began in August, when the bishop sued<\/a> Highland Park over changes the church made to its governing documents that attempted to chart a more independent course. Those changes removed \u201cUnited Methodist\u201d from the church\u2019s legal name and gave the church council authority to make broad decisions typically made by the denomination.<\/p>\n TO OUR READERS: The mission of MinistryWatch is to help Christian donors become more faithful stewards of the resources God has entrusted to them. Do you know of a story that will help us fulfill our mission, or do you want to give us feedback about this or any other story? If so, please email us at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Church says they will stay. (RNS) \u2014 The bishop overseeing Dallas\u2019 Highland Park United Methodist Church removed the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,162508,107324],"class_list":["post-482521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-highland-park-methodist-church","tag-united-methodist-church"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482521","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=482521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}