Andy is an ordained elder who knows our church and our polity deeply. As assistant to the bishop, first in the North Texas Conference and now in the Horizon Texas Conference, he has worked alongside me to help guide our conference, including bringing three conferences together into one. He is also a pastor at heart. He was the founding pastor of a church plant in McKinney, which cared for families displaced by Hurricane Katrina, and he later served as senior pastor of Holy Covenant UMC in Carrollton and First UMC Lewisville.

Andy knows how to gather people, build community where none seemed possible, and help a congregation find its life and mission. A native of Plano and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Perkins School of Theology, Andy and his wife, Sondra, have three children.

As your pastor, Andy will care for you, preach the Word, offer the sacraments and walk with you through this season. Working with your district superintendent, he will help ensure that Highland Park United Methodist Church continues its ministry as a congregation connected to the wider church, grounded in our shared covenant and guided by the Book of Discipline.

The Apostle Paul wrote to a church under great strain: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9)

Those words speak to this moment. Whatever uncertainty you face, you are not forsaken by God or by your conference. The church is more than the decisions of its leaders or the outcome of a vote. It is a community of people called together by Christ, bound by faith and committed to loving and serving one another.

We will not walk away from you. Our goal remains a vibrant United Methodist church at the corner of Hillcrest and Mockingbird: a congregation governed as a United Methodist church, connected to the wider church and open to all. We will keep pursuing that goal faithfully, patiently and through every proper path available to us. This is not the end of the story.

As we navigate the ongoing court proceedings and questions surrounding Highland Park’s governance and property, we will gather for worship at University Park United Methodist Church. Its congregation and leadership have graciously offered us a welcoming place to worship together during this time. Out of respect for everyone involved, and to avoid unnecessary conflict while these matters are resolved, we will worship there temporarily as we continue caring for one another and moving forward together.

I hope you will remain together as a community of faith. The relationships, ministries and shared commitments you have built over the years are worth preserving. Even in this uncertain season, you have an opportunity to carry that community forward.

Worship will begin on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, at 10 a.m. in the sanctuary at University Park United Methodist Church, 4024 Caruth Blvd. Immediately after the service, there will be a time for informal fellowship in the Fellowship Hall.

Andy will lead worship, and I hope many of you will be there. All are welcome. For more information about how to navigate UPUMC’s campus, pre-register children or youth for nursery care or Sunday School, or worship online, please visit www.HPunitedmethodist.org.

For generations, the United Methodists of Highland Park have shown Dallas what our faith looks like: grace offered freely, care given generously, a connection to the whole body of Christ, and a welcome for everyone. Those gifts never belonged to a vote or a council. They live in you, and the church and the world need them now more than ever.

Paul also wrote, “So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

I won’t give up on you, and I hope and pray you won’t give up either. Keep praying. Keep worshiping. Keep serving. Keep loving your neighbors, including those who see this differently. Grief doesn’t need to become bitterness, and our hope is still for reconciliation.

Please pray with me:

Faithful God, hold close the United Methodists of Highland Park. Comfort those who grieve, strengthen those who are weary, and gather those who feel scattered. Bless Andy as he shepherds your people. Give us steadfast hearts, gracious words and resolute faith. Guard us from bitterness and keep the door to reconciliation open. Lead us, in your time, to a United Methodist church on the corner of Hillcrest and Mockingbird where your love is proclaimed to all. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

With gratitude and hope,

Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr.
Horizon Texas Conference
The United Methodist Church

In Ephesians 4, Paul writes to the church, urging them to live “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” He describes the church as a body “joined and knit together by every ligament,” with each part doing its work.

Paul doesn’t say unity happens when everyone agrees. He says to make every effort. Unity takes work. It asks for humility and patience, especially in seasons like this one.

Scripture has a word for this kind of belonging: covenant.

A contract says, “I’ll keep my part if you keep yours.” A covenant says, “We belong to each other, and we’ll keep faith even when it’s hard.” God made covenant with Abraham and Sarah and with Israel at Sinai. Again and again, the people struggled to keep it, and again and again God stayed faithful and called them home. At the Last Supper, Jesus took the cup and called it the new covenant, and he shared it with friends who would soon deny him and run away.

Covenant isn’t about control. It’s a promise to hold on to one another with love that is both truthful and patient.

United Methodists live covenant through what we call the connection. From the beginning, John Wesley didn’t build independent congregations. He built a connection of people and places accountable to one another and sharing the work of the gospel. That spirit shapes our life today:

• Pastors are sent, not hired. Congregations and clergy receive one another as a shared trust.
• We share resources. Our giving supports ministries no single church could sustain alone, including campus ministries, disaster response, new faith communities and care for clergy and their families. Highland Park’s generosity has blessed that shared work for generations, and I’m grateful.
• Our property is held in trust. Since Wesley’s day, Methodist property has been held in trust for the whole church. That isn’t a claim of ownership by any bishop or conference. It’s a promise that what one generation builds remains for mission in the next. None of us owns Highland Park United Methodist Church. Jesus Christ is the head of the church.
• We make vows. Every member promises to support the church with their prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. Every pastor promises to live within the covenant we share. Those vows bind all of us: bishops, superintendents, clergy and laity alike.

None of this makes us perfect. Our structures can feel heavy, and large and small congregations experience them differently. Some of the frustration Highland Park’s leaders have expressed is real, and it deserves to be heard. But at the heart of our connection is a simple conviction: we are stronger, more faithful and more accountable together than alone. That is a partnership, and it’s the partnership I want with Highland Park.

My concern has always been about governance, never about Highland Park’s faith, its ministry or its people. Changes were made to the church’s governing documents in 2022, and the conference believes those changes don’t fit with the covenant every United Methodist congregation shares. For many months we sought to resolve this through conversation. When the concerns remained unresolved, the conference asked a civil court to help clarify the questions involved.

What we have asked for is narrow. We have asked that Highland Park restore the governance in place before November 2022: reinstate “United” in the church’s legal name, restore references to the Book of Discipline in its governing documents and restore members’ participation in the governance of their church. That request, and my September 18 letter, are on the conference website.

I don’t want Highland Park to become a different church. I want it to keep being the church it has been for more than a century: a congregation of United Methodist Christians, in covenant with the wider connection, offering Christ to Dallas and the world.

To Highland Park members: you don’t have to choose between loving your church and loving the connection. You can ask questions, seek information and pray for your leaders and for me, all at once. If you’d like to talk with someone, my office will connect you with a pastor who will listen.

To everyone across our conference: please be gentle with one another. Stay with what’s known and resist rumor. Be careful online. Make room for people who see this differently, because they belong here too. Keep sabbath and check on one another.

The door to conversation remains open. My hope is not for one side to win. My hope is for restoration and reconciliation.

Please pray with me:

Faithful God, you make covenant with your people and keep it, even when we falter. Bless Highland Park United Methodist Church: its members, clergy, staff and leaders. Comfort those who are hurting and strengthen those who are weary. Bless our conference and all who carry this season in their hearts. Give us humility, gentleness and patience. Guard our words and keep us from turning neighbors into enemies. Where there is division, make a way toward reconciliation. Join and knit us together again, so that your church may grow in love. In the name of Jesus Christ, who breaks down every dividing wall. Amen.

Grace and peace,

Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr.
Horizon Texas Conference
The United Methodist Church

The Conference continues to ask that Highland Park United Methodist Church restore the governance that was in force before November 2022. The specific restoration includes the reinstatement of “United” in the church’s full legal name, the reinstatement of references to the Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church in the governing documents, and the restoration of members’ participation in the governance and leadership of their church. These are not simply matters of corporate structure; they protect the voice of Highland Park’s members in the decisions of its leadership and reflect the congregation’s place within the wider United Methodist connection.

In November 2025, our respective counsel worked together to prepare revised governing documents and had reached areas of agreement before the December 9 meeting between the Conference and Highland Park UMC’s leadership. Those revisions may provide a useful starting point for renewed discussion.

I make this request not as a matter of episcopal preference or institutional convenience. I make it because the covenants of order and accountability we share are part of what it means to be United Methodist. The restoration I am asking for is not a submission to authority; it is a return to the covenants Highland Park has long shared with thousands of other United Methodist congregations across our Conference and connection.

I understand that certain events of the past led many to question the future of The United Methodist Church. However, the Conference and Highland Park United Methodist Church have the opportunity to show, publicly, that as Methodists, we can envision a way out of dissension or disagreement and move forward in harmony by returning to the covenants that we hold in common as United Methodists.

Highland Park United Methodist Church has been a significant congregation in the Methodist family for many decades. Its pulpit has shaped ministers. Its members have blessed generations of Christians. Its outreach has served countless people in Dallas and beyond. The ministry of your congregation is not diminished by belonging to the ordered life of the connection. Rather, the ministry of your congregation has strengthened our Conference connection and has also drawn strength from that belonging.

Highland Park’s leaders have stated publicly in recent weeks that a church of its size and complexity cannot operate effectively within the framework of the Book of Discipline. I believe there is room within United Methodist polity to address those concerns. Other large congregations have, with the cooperation of their Charge Conference and District Superintendent, developed organizational structures that reflect the complexity of their ministries while remaining within the connection. I invite Highland Park’s leadership to work with the Conference to explore what that could look like for a congregation with Highland Park’s distinctive needs and ministry.

I know none of this is simple. Our previous efforts to find a way forward have shown how deeply people care about Highland Park United Methodist Church and how difficult this moment has become. What I am asking is that Highland Park return to the covenants it entered into as a Methodist congregation more than a century ago and that have shaped its life and ministry ever since.

I have prayed about how to write this letter, and I have prayed about Highland Park and its people. My prayer is not that Highland Park United Methodist Church become a different church than it has been. In fact, my prayer is that Highland Park continue to be the church it has been for generations – a congregation of Methodist Christians, in covenant with the wider connection, offering the gospel to Dallas and to the world. The restoration I am asking for is offered in service of that continuing identity, not against it.

I recognize that this letter arrives at a time when institutional matters between Highland Park United Methodist Church and the Conference have been difficult. I am aware of the public statements that have been made. I do not write to relitigate those statements or to press on the wounds that have opened between us. I write because a pastoral door remains open, and I do not want the moment to pass without offering it. Whatever your response, know that I hold Highland Park in my prayers – its members, its clergy, its staff, and its lay leaders. I hold you in my prayers as you carry the weight of leadership in a difficult season. I hold the wider Conference in my prayers as we, together, seek the faithful path forward.

If, after receiving this letter, you would like to be in conversation with me, please reach out to my office.

My hope in writing to you is that we can walk this next stretch of the road together rather than apart. If that is not possible, we will continue to walk our respective paths with the pastoral warmth I have tried to hold throughout this season. But I offer this letter as an invitation to walk together, if you are willing.

Grace and peace to you in Christ, whose Church we all belong to, and whose ministry we together seek to serve,

Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr.
Horizon Texas Conference
The United Methodist Church

Highland Park UMC is a congregation of The United Methodist Church and part of the Horizon Texas Conference. Bishop Saenz and the Conference have a responsibility to the members of the church and the worldwide United Methodist body of Christ to provide spiritual and temporal oversight, to uphold United Methodist governance and to protect the congregation’s United Methodist identity and sacred trust.

The Conference ensures changes involving a church’s governance follow the processes established in the UMC Book of Discipline and cannot be made unilaterally by a local church council. Highland Park UMC’s articles and bylaws were changed without approval through a properly called charge conference, as required by United Methodist governance.

The Conference has no record that the episcopal office was informed of the 2022 changes to Highland Park UMC’s amended bylaws when those changes were made, and no record that the episcopal office worked with Highland Park UMC to implement those changes. The changes were not submitted to or approved through the required United Methodist process.

Conference staff did not receive Highland Park UMC’s amended bylaws until October 2025. Once the significance of the changes became clear, Bishop Saenz began working privately with Highland Park UMC’s leadership to address them. As the episcopal leader of the Horizon Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church, Bishop Saenz could not disregard his responsibility to uphold the order of the Church and protect the congregation’s United Methodist identity and future.

More importantly, when or how the Conference became aware of the changes does not determine whether those changes comply with United Methodist polity and the Book of Discipline. The changes are out of order.

Highland Park UMC has pointed to action taken by a 1998 Charge Conference that delegated authority to the Church Council to enact and amend bylaws. That delegation did not remove the church’s obligation to comply with the Book of Discipline or give the Church Council authority to make changes inconsistent with United Methodist governance.

Paragraph 2529.1.c of the Book of Discipline specifically addresses a local church’s organizing documents and requires changes to those documents to receive written approval from the pastor and district superintendent. A local church does not need a separate Conference policy restating a requirement already established by the Book of Discipline.

The Conference’s concern is not that a Church Council can never make administrative changes to bylaws. It is that authority delegated to a Church Council cannot be used to remove denominational safeguards, alter the congregation’s United Methodist standing or bypass requirements established by the Book of Discipline.

After months of efforts to resolve the governance concerns directly, the Horizon Texas Conference filed a Petition for Declaratory Judgment in Dallas County District Court on Monday, Aug. 10. On Oct. 15, the Conference filed a Second Amended Petition providing additional information and clarification of its claims.

The Conference is asking the court to address the civil-law questions involving Highland Park’s governing documents and its longstanding property deed, including which governing documents control the church as a Texas corporation and the legal effect of the deed governing the church property.

The Conference is not asking the court to interpret the Book of Discipline or decide matters of United Methodist governance, law or practice. Those matters belong within the Church.

A charge conference is made up of local church leaders and Conference leaders, and is the body authorized to make certain significant decisions on behalf of a United Methodist congregation. Changes involving the church’s governance must follow the processes established in the UMC Book of Discipline and cannot be made unilaterally by a local church council.

This process exists so that, in The United Methodist Church, no single pastor or small group of leaders has the authority to make major decisions about a congregation’s future on their own.

Certain decisions are required to go through a meeting of the charge conference – and, for the most significant changes, an even broader church conference open to the full congregation. This ensures that when someone joins a United Methodist church, gives their time, their resources and their trust, they do so with a clear understanding of what that church is and what it stands for. As a member, they have a voice in decisions that affect their church’s identity, direction and standing within the denomination.

The charge conference process is also how the wider church holds itself accountable. Every United Methodist congregation, no matter its size or influence, follows the same process, so that decisions of this magnitude are made openly and with transparency.

Highland Park UMC’s articles and bylaws were changed without approval through a properly called charge conference, as required by United Methodist governance.

The changes made by Highland Park UMC’s leadership do not comply with United Methodist Church law and give Highland Park UMC’s local corporate leadership authority that conflicts with the role of the charge conference, the oversight responsibilities of the bishop and Conference and the connectional governance of The United Methodist Church.

The changes also specifically provide that “no matter affecting or involving the church shall require a vote of the professing members or baptized persons,” thereby disenfranchising the membership. This is a direct violation of provisions of the UMC Book of Discipline that value the input of all professing members—both clergy and laypersons—in the management and ministry of the church.

A United Methodist congregation has considerable freedom to shape its local ministry, but its leaders cannot restructure the local church to operate outside the shared order of the denomination while continuing to function as a United Methodist church.

While this process was not properly followed and is not in order, these changes would appear to move Highland Park UMC outside its standing as a United Methodist congregation altogether. A shift of that magnitude was made without bringing the broader congregation into that conversation, and it carries serious implications that many members may not have been made aware of. Regardless of intent, changes of this kind are not something local leadership has the authority to make on its own.

No. This is not a disagreement about worship style, local ministry, church culture or theological interpretation.

It is a governance matter involving whether a United Methodist congregation may change its governing documents in ways that conflict with the order and processes of The United Methodist Church.

No. This matter is about governance, covenant and accountability.

Property is relevant because United Methodist church property is held in sacred trust for the mission and ministry of The United Methodist Church. However, the Conference’s concern is broader than property, finances or apportionments. It is about protecting a historic United Methodist congregation for current and future generations.

In this case, the property where the sanctuary is located, on Southern Methodist University’s campus, was committed more than 100 years ago for a church within the United Methodist denomination, and that is a requirement of the property even today.

No. The Conference is addressing decisions involving the church’s governing documents and is seeking to protect the congregation’s United Methodist identity and the direct connectional relationship between the members and The United Methodist Church.

The Conference is not seeking to change Highland Park UMC’s culture, its worship style, its ministry partnerships or the way this congregation lives out its faith day to day. Those are decisions that belong to Highland Park UMC, as they always have. The Conference’s concern is limited to the church’s governing documents and decisions that were made about the congregation’s governance and denominational standing without transparency and without following the process required of every United Methodist church.

Bishop Saenz and the Conference remain committed to treating everyone involved with honesty, humility, care and grace.

No. The Second Amended Petition includes a breach-of-contract claim and names potential alternative remedies available under that claim. The Conference’s preferred outcome, however, remains restoration of Highland Park UMC’s governing documents. The inclusion of alternative remedies does not change the Conference’s primary objective of restoration.

The Conference is asking Highland Park UMC leaders to restore the original governance structure of Highland Park UMC to bring the church’s governance back into alignment with the Book of Discipline through the proper United Methodist processes, including a properly called charge conference.

The Conference is also seeking commitment from the church leadership to provide the appropriate transparency and accountability to both the Conference and the congregation regarding decisions that affect the governance and future of the congregation.

Yes. The Conference remains open to conversation, correction and a faithful resolution.

The Conference has not received a proposal for resolution that is consistent with United Methodist governance and polity. Any proposed resolution must follow the requirements of The United Methodist Church for the Conference to consider it.

The Conference remains hopeful that there is a path toward resolution that would allow Highland Park UMC to remain the same church its congregants love while preserving its connection to The United Methodist Church. The Conference is and has been willing to engage in formal or informal conversations with Highland Park UMC’s Church Council about how this can be accomplished.

The Conference’s goal remains restoration.

The Conference’s essential requirement is that Highland Park UMC’s governance remain in alignment with the Book of Discipline and the connectional structure of The United Methodist Church.

Within that framework, there is flexibility in how a local church organizes itself. Options can include simplified governing structures or larger committee structures, among others. The Conference is open to working with Highland Park UMC on an approach that reflects the size and complexity of its ministry.

The Conference’s goal is not to prescribe every detail of Highland Park’s organizational structure, but to ensure that its governance operates within United Methodist polity and provides the accountability required by the connection.

Highland Park UMC’s appointed clergy remain in connection with the Conference, and their status remains unchanged. The Conference continues to have responsibility and care for these clergy and remains committed to supporting them in their ministry. Nothing in the current dispute changes that commitment.

The General Council on Finance and Administration, or GCFA, is a financial and administrative agency of The United Methodist Church that carries out denomination-wide financial and administrative responsibilities, including administration of The United Methodist Church’s group tax exemption.

GCFA and the Horizon Texas Conference are both parts of the wider United Methodist connection, but they serve different roles. The Horizon Texas Conference is an annual conference, a body of lay and clergy delegates that is responsible for overseeing the mission and ministries of The United Methodist Church in its geographic area; evaluating, ordaining, and (when appropriate) disciplining clergy; and is the basic body of The United Methodist Church that serves as the crucial connecting point between local churches and the larger, worldwide denomination. The duties and responsibilities of the annual conference are defined by the Book of Discipline, as are those of the bishop, who ensures that the faith, order, liturgy, doctrine, and discipline of The United Methodist Church are carried out within the annual conferences in his or her episcopal area.

The South Central Jurisdiction is one of five geographic groupings (called “jurisdictions”) of The United Methodist Church in the United States. Each jurisdictional conference is made up of annual conferences across its region. The work of the jurisdictional conferences is set by the Book of Discipline and carried out by clergy and lay delegates elected from each of its annual conferences. These responsibilities include decisions such as electing and assigning bishops and determining the boundaries of annual conferences. The Horizon Texas Conference is one of ten annual conferences within the South Central Jurisdiction.

The Horizon Texas Conference will continue to communicate as circumstances develop. Because this matter may include confidential pastoral conversations and legal proceedings, the Conference may not be able to discuss every detail publicly.

Material developments and official information will be shared on this page.