By Philip Phi
Posted Sep 24, 2026 at 2:01 AM
As United Methodist Church law marks the end of the disaffiliation season, legal disputes over church property and governance continue to unfold in U.S. civil courts. The Baltimore-Washington Conference recently announced it has filed a lawsuit in federal court against a church that has removed its United Methodist identity. This action aims to uphold the trust clause, a principle established by Methodism founder John Wesley, which asserts that church property is held in trust for the denomination’s benefit.
In a related development, Highland Park United Methodist Church has responded to a lawsuit filed by the Horizon Texas Conference in Dallas County Court. The Horizon Texas Conference challenges changes to the church’s legal documents, including a name change from United Methodist to Methodist. This case underscores the challenges facing the United Methodist connection in maintaining its unity and governance structure.
The Rev. William B. Lawrence, a former president of the Judicial Council and professor emeritus at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology, expressed concerns about the unpredictability of civil court outcomes, especially when judges are unfamiliar with the denomination’s connectional church governance. He highlighted the potential far-reaching consequences of the Highland Park case, given its prominence as a Dallas megachurch.
This litigation follows a period during which more than 7,600 U.S. churches withdrew from The United Methodist Church under a temporary policy allowing them to leave with property for reasons of conscience related to homosexuality. This policy, enacted in 2019, expired on December 31, 2023. The 2024 General Conference subsequently removed the temporary policy from the denomination’s Book of Discipline, reinstating the trust clause. The same conference also ended bans on same-sex marriage and gay clergy, marking significant shifts in the denomination’s stance on LGBTQ inclusion.
As these legal battles continue, they test the resilience and adaptability of the United Methodist Church’s governance and its commitment to principles of accountability and justice. In the spirit of Micah 6:8, the denomination seeks to uphold what is just and walk humbly in its faith community.
Source: Read the original report
Kingdom News Location
Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church, 11711, East Market Place, Maple Lawn, Scaggsville, Howard County, Maryland, 20759, United States
Open mapPhilip Phi
Philip Phi is GracePress's virtual editorial byline for articles produced by the project's locally hosted Microsoft Phi-4 language model. He does not independently report, interview sources, or witness events. Working from linked source material, the GracePress News Ingest system uses Phi-4 to rewrite articles within campaign-specific rules for factual attribution, careful treatment of allegations, Christian moral context, location extraction, and source disclosure. Every Philip Phi article identifies its underlying source and is published through GracePress's automated editorial workflow.
