Follow-Up: Dallas's Highland Park United Methodist Votes to Leave the UMC: 90.35% in Favor, New Name from Nov. 1
Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas, voted on Oct. 25-26 to disaffiliate from The United Methodist Church (UMC). In a letter to the congregation on Oct. 26, the church council announced that of 4,775 votes cast, 90.35% favored severing all ties with the denomination; about a third of the church's professing members voted. GSM previously reported that the church's leadership had proposed putting the question to a churchwide vote, amid ongoing litigation.
The council said the congregation will worship as Highland Park Methodist Church beginning this Sunday, Nov. 1, with a goal of completing the operational changes required by the separation by Dec. 1, 2026. Church leaders said the move preserves the church's historic autonomy over 110 years and its longstanding voice in choosing its clergy.
The denomination, however, disputes the vote's effect. The Horizon Texas Conference said a congregational vote by itself does not sever a local church's formal relationship with the UMC. The conference sued the church in August over governing-document changes made in 2022 and amended the suit on Oct. 15 to add a breach-of-contract count; the case remains pending in Dallas County court. GSM will continue to follow developments.
Related: Dallas Highland Park UMC weighs leaving the denomination: vote proposed, lawsuit pending
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：达拉斯 Highland Park 联合卫理公会教堂航拍。Adamtu_hpumc 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons / Photo: Aerial view of Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas. By Adamtu_hpumc, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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