(RNS) — The bishop overseeing Dallas’ 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.
Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. addresses the Highland Park United Methodist Church congregation in a video released Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (Video screen grab)
Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr., responding to the church vote earlier this week to break away from the United Methodist Church, wrote in two letters — one to church members and one to its leaders — that the congregational vote to withdraw was invalid.
“A congregational vote or action of the Church Council cannot, by itself, terminate the congregation’s connection to the denomination,” Saenz wrote.
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.
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 “Highland Park Methodist Church,” minus the “United.” It plans to remain Methodist or Wesleyan in its theology and teachings.
But the vote by the church membership is not a recognized step toward severing ties with the denominational rulebook, the bishop argued.
Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas. (Courtesy photo)
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, “from all positions” at the church, effective Thursday.
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.
However, in a statement, Highland Park’s church council said its pastors will remain.
“This Sunday, we will worship as usual with our clergy, including our Senior Minister, Rev. Matt Tuggle at the pulpit – at our Church on the corner of Mockingbird and Hillcrest,” the statement said.
The statement described the bishop’s move to remove its clergy as “retaliatory,” and said it was “one more example of the irrevocable broken bond of trust that once existed between our Church and The United Methodist Church.”
It’s unclear now whether the denomination will bring charges against Highland Park’s 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.
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.
The dispute began in August, when the bishop sued Highland Park over changes the church made to its governing documents that attempted to chart a more independent course. Those changes removed “United Methodist” from the church’s legal name and gave the church council authority to make broad decisions typically made by the denomination.
