As a matter of church law, the season of disaffiliation in the United Methodist Church is over. However, legal disputes related to church property and other aspects of the UMC’s governance persist in civil courts across the US.
The most recent development is Baltimore-Washington Conference’s September 20 announcement that it has filed a federal lawsuit against a church that removed its United Methodist identity. The conference says its goal is to uphold the centuries-old trust clause, established by Methodism founder John Wesley, that says church property is held in trust for the benefit of the denomination.
Meanwhile, Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas has filed its answer to the Horizon Texas Conference’s lawsuit in county court, seeking the case’s dismissal. Horizon Texas’s suit challenges changes to that church’s legal documents that, among other things, shorten its name from United Methodist to Methodist.
