Jesus warned his followers that “in this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). He stopped short of pointing out, though, that the trouble and pain often come from the people you love the most. Family. Friends. Brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s interesting that the first violence in the Bible is between two brothers.

The conflict among family is severe and often irreparable. I’ve seen it every day over the years. Last week, the Horizon Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church sued our Church. It is among the more unnecessary and egregious betrayals of a loyal ministry partnership I’ve witnessed in 26 years as a United Methodist pastor.

On the sidelines as your Minister-in-Residence, I would like to share a few thoughts about this threatening missive towards our congregation. I want to be clear: this is not about the claims in the lawsuit, which I know to be outrageous and false. Our lay leaders and lawyers will address those corporate issues in due course, in the capable hands of the courts.

What I want to talk about is the spirit of Highland Park United Methodist Church and how it has embraced the life of our United Methodist Church for 110 years. Since our inception, every member of our congregation has been received as a United Methodist. Today, we have more than 16,000 members. Every child confirmed as a youth in our church has been confirmed as a United Methodist—through United Methodist liturgy. Every child baptized in an HPUMC worship service has been welcomed into our responsibility as a congregation as a United Methodist—through United Methodist liturgy. When we sing, we use United Methodist hymnals.

From 2019 to 2023, more than 7,600 churches nationwide left the United Methodist Church. HPUMC did not. We stayed.

In fact, we did more than stay.

We put our full support behind the conference and other churches in our UMC community. HPUMC has launched a staggering 41 United Methodist churches over the years, the most of any conference partner. We run the largest UMC youth confirmation program in the conference that is suing us. We launched a new dormitory and student center at Africa University, one of the great United Methodist universities on the continent. Our nationally renowned Belong Disability Ministry for children and adults with physical and mental disabilities, which we operate, is available to ALL Horizon Texas Conference churches free of charge. Since 2022—the year the conference complains about in its lawsuit—we have contributed to local United Methodist charity organizations, including Dallas Bethlehem Center, Austin Street Center, Agape Clinic, Christ’s Foundry, Dickinson Place, Project Transformation, Wesley-Rankin Community Center, Wilkinson Center, Methodist Children’s Home of Costa Rica, the Costa Rica Medical Clinic, the Haiti Eye Clinic, and the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). We have provided significant resources to United Methodist-related natural disaster relief programs. In the last four years, we have provided $5.5 million in apportionments and have contributed more than $6.2 million to organizations of the United Methodist Church.

When our conference is either unable or unwilling to support the churches in our conference in need, we step in to bridge the gap. In two such cases, the conference had declared the churches dying, and their future was seriously in question. HPUMC asked for and received permission from the conference to recapitalize and staff each church. The Grove is thriving again, and just last year, HPUMC returned the once dying Munger Place UMC back to the conference as a gift—one with a thriving congregation and ample funds to support its ministry for years to come. Since 2022 alone, we have given over $1.5 million to such churches, specifically because we are their brothers and sisters in Christ through the United Methodist Church. Our most recent capital campaign, Project Mockingbird, has designated $1.15 million to assist a struggling United Methodist church and $1.7 million to assist a UMC charity partner. This is not the conduct of a standalone congregation.

We have also dutifully supported the conference directly, as it demands. As a UMC in full connection, we have never missed an apportionment payment to the conference that is now suing us. The conference never turned down those apportionments—in fact, the conference accepted our most recent apportionment in August while planning to sue us.

Let me be clear. This message is not about glory or praise—before this lawsuit and the pernicious acts towards our Church by the bishop, I had never discussed the totality of these United Methodist projects publicly. But these and many other examples refute the unfair, unwarranted, and frankly mean allegations being thrown our way. These acts reflect a deep dedication to the United Methodist Church and our peer institutions in connection. This is what connectionism is all about. From theological practice to connectional support, HPUMC has set the standard for 110 years. To say otherwise is lunacy.

May God bless our Church as we face the days ahead.

-Rev. Paul Rasmussen
Minister-in-Residence