Can a church leave its denomination? Highland Park, the Methodist bishop, and what the Bible says about splitting

Who owns the building?

This is the question underneath the dispute. The lawsuit began over the 2022 governing documents. The conference says the matter is about governance and that its concern is “broader than property,” but it also says property “is relevant” and has asked the court to address the legal effect of the church’s deed. The bishop’s letter refers to questions about Highland Park’s “governance and property.” Paragraph 2501 of the United Methodist Book of Discipline says that all properties of local churches “are held, in trust,” for the benefit of the whole denomination. That is called the trust clause. In plain terms, members can leave, but the Discipline says the building stays.

From 2019 to 2023 the denomination opened a temporary door. Churches could leave with their property on certain conditions, including a two-thirds congregational vote, and more than 7,600 did. That policy expired on December 31, 2023. The 2024 General Conference removed it, and the denomination’s Judicial Council later said the trust clause is back in full force. Which is why the conference says a vote now, however large, “does not, by itself, sever” the relationship.

Church rules, however, are not the only law. Highland Park’s leaders point to a 2020 Texas Supreme Court ruling in a dispute between the Episcopal Church and a group that broke away in Fort Worth, in which the court applied neutral principles of Texas law and sided with the breakaway group. UM News notes that the United Methodist trust provision is structured differently, and Christian Century reports that civil courts have repeatedly upheld the United Methodist trust clause. A judge will rule on what the suit puts before the court, and we are not predicting the outcome or offering legal advice.

Can a bishop remove a pastor?

In a Methodist church, normally yes. United Methodist clergy are appointed by their bishop, usually a year at a time, rather than hired by the congregation, and they can be moved. Highland Park had enjoyed exceptions, Baptist News Global reports, which is part of what its leaders fear losing. A Baptist congregation works the opposite way: it calls its own pastor and can dismiss its pastor, and no bishop has a say. The real question at Highland Park is whether the bishop still has authority there, and each side answers differently.

What the Bible says

The hardest passage for both sides is not about splitting. It is about court. Writing to a church where Christians were taking each other to pagan judges, Paul says:

⁵ I say this to your shame. Is there really no one among you wise enough to arbitrate between his brothers? ⁶ Instead, one brother goes to law against another, and this in front of unbelievers! ⁷ The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means that you are thoroughly defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

On division itself, the Bible is plain. Jesus prayed “that all of them may be one” so “that the world may believe” (John 17:21). Paul pleaded “that there may be no divisions among you” and asked of the factions in Corinth, “Is Christ divided?” (1 Corinthians 1:10–13). Christians are to be diligent “to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).

On authority, it cuts both ways. Congregations are told to “Obey your leaders and submit to them” (Hebrews 13:17). Leaders are told to serve “not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:3). Each side of a church fight tends to quote only its own verse.

The Bible also records a split that did not end in disgrace. Paul and Barnabas fell out over whether to take Mark with them, and “Their disagreement was so sharp that they parted company” (Acts 15:39). The gospel went on in two directions. Luke does not call it a good thing or say who was right, and Paul later speaks warmly of Mark (2 Timothy 4:11). They parted without a court, as far as we are told.

What the Bible does not say

• It says nothing about denominations. The New Testament knows local churches and apostles, not conferences, trust clauses or disciplines. Every side’s church structure is an application, not a command, though each tradition believes its own is faithful to Scripture.
• It does not forbid every use of the courts. Paul himself said “I appeal to Caesar!” (Acts 25:11), when he stood accused on a capital charge. First Corinthians 6 is about Christians suing fellow Christians over “everyday matters,” and sincere believers disagree on how it applies to a corporation holding property under state law.
• It does not make all separation a sin. Paul also warns against “those who create divisions and obstacles that are contrary to the teaching you have learned” (Romans 16:17). Unity around false teaching is not the goal, which is why the Reformers could leave Rome with a clear conscience, as they saw it, and why Catholics still call that a wound.

How churches differ

United Methodist. A connected system: churches are accountable to one another through conferences and bishops, and the trust clause holds property for the whole. Since the end of 2023 there is no standing exit with property.

Catholic. A parish cannot leave. “It is only for the diocesan bishop to erect, suppress, or alter parishes” (canon 515 §2), and “the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him” is schism (canon 751), not a change of affiliation.

Episcopal and Anglican. The Episcopal Church’s Dennis Canon of 1979 claims a trust over parish property for the national church and its diocese. Its breakaway disputes have gone both ways in state courts: the 2020 Texas case above, and a 2013 Virginia ruling for the denomination.

Presbyterian. In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), section G-4.0203 of the Book of Order holds congregations’ property in trust for the denomination. Presbyteries have used “gracious dismissal” policies to let churches depart, on terms.

Baptist and congregational. The Baptist Faith and Message calls each church “an autonomous local congregation.” Such a church can usually walk away from a convention with far less difficulty. The convention can also walk away from it.

These are general summaries of each tradition’s rules, not statements by any church about this dispute.

Our take

This is our opinion, not a report, and we do not claim to know how the case should be decided in law. The conference should drop its lawsuit, the church its counterclaim, both sides should settle this week, and if that costs the church a very large cheque, it should write it.

Paul’s question, “Why not rather be wronged?”, is the most ignored verse in church property law. We know the arguments that it does not apply: trustees have duties, members’ gifts must be protected, and Paul was writing about private grievances. Those arguments are real, and Paul’s readers in Corinth no doubt had reasons of their own. When a dispute between Christians is due in court in October 2027, a settlement that does not come will mean a whole year of Sundays with two congregations three miles apart and the quarrel in a public court.

The church cannot have it all ways. A 90% vote tells you what the people want. It does not tell you what is right, and a congregation that has lived for a century under a covenant should not act as though that covenant was never made. Whatever the intent, and the two sides dispute it, changing the governing documents without the whole congregation’s vote does not look like the patient, open dealing the New Testament asks of Christians, even if Texas law allows it.

The denomination cannot either. It let more than 7,600 churches go with their buildings, under a door with a known closing date that Highland Park did not use, and now says that door is locked. A rule can be lawful and still make for a poor witness. A shepherd can say “We will not walk away from you” and mean it to those who voted no, but on the evidence of that vote, nine in ten of those who took part have asked him to go. Holding on to a building is not the same as holding on to a flock.

So: let them go, for a fair price, with a blessing, and protect the minority who want to stay Methodist in that same deal. Paul and Barnabas managed to part without a judge. Dallas could do the same.

Over to you

If your church voted to leave its denomination tomorrow, what would make you stay in the building, and what would make you follow the people who left? Tell us below, especially if you have lived through a split.

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