跟进：主教裁定高地公园联合卫理公会脱离投票无效，另派主任牧师，留守会众转至大学公园教会敬拜

位于美国德克萨斯州达拉斯县达拉斯市（Dallas, Dallas County, Texas）的高地公园联合卫理公会（Highland Park United Methodist Church）归属争议出现新进展：地平线德州年议会（Horizon Texas Conference）主教鲁本·萨恩斯（Rubén Saenz Jr.）10月29日宣布，该教会10月25日至26日举行的脱离联合卫理公会的会众投票，依教会法规无效。

萨恩斯同时是联合卫理公会主教议会主席。他宣布，教会将继续留在联合卫理公会内，并任命其助理兼幕僚长安迪·刘易斯（Andy Lewis）牧师为该教会主任牧师，免去原主任牧师马特·塔格尔（Matt Tuggle）与荣休牧师保罗·拉斯穆森（Paul Rasmussen）的职务。

愿意留在联合卫理公会的会众，将于11月1日上午10时（中部时间）在约3英里外的大学公园联合卫理公会（University Park UMC）聚会敬拜。

另一方面，该教会理事会表示，两位牧师将留任，教会将以「高地公园卫理公会」（Highland Park Methodist Church）之名在原址（Mockingbird与Hillcrest交界处）继续敬拜，并称主教的处置是「报复性」行动。

争议背景是教会章程与财产托管条款之争：年议会已于今年8月就该教会2022年的章程修改向达拉斯县民事法院提起诉讼；联合卫理公会在2019至2023年间设有脱离通道、逾7,600间教会循此离开，该通道已于2023年12月31日关闭。今年10月15日，年议会修订诉状，加入违约指控；此案定于2027年10月12日进行无法官陪审团审判。高地公园教会创会于1916年，现有会众约15,000人；此次会众投票共4,775票，90.35%赞成脱离。

Follow-Up: Bishop Rules Highland Park UMC Split Vote Invalid, Appoints a New Senior Pastor as Members Who Stay Move Their Worship to University Park

The dispute over Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, Dallas County, Texas, took a new turn on October 29: Bishop Rubén Saenz Jr. of the Horizon Texas Conference announced that the congregation's October 25-26 vote to sever ties with The United Methodist Church is invalid under church law.

Saenz, who also serves as president of the denomination's Council of Bishops, said the church, chartered in 1916 and counting about 15,000 members, remains United Methodist. He appointed the Rev. Andy Lewis, his assistant and chief of staff, as the church's senior pastor, and removed the Rev. Matt Tuggle, its senior pastor, and the Rev. Paul Rasmussen, its pastor emeritus.

Members who wish to remain United Methodist will worship on November 1 at 10 a.m. CT at University Park United Methodist Church, about three miles away.

The church council, for its part, said its pastors are staying and that worship will continue at the church's Mockingbird and Hillcrest site under the name 'Highland Park Methodist Church,' calling the bishop's move retaliatory.

The fight centers on bylaws and the denomination's trust clause. The conference sued in Dallas County civil court in August over bylaw changes the church made in 2022; more than 7,600 churches left the denomination through a disaffiliation path that ran from 2019 until it expired on December 31, 2023. An amended suit filed October 15 adds a breach-of-contract claim, and a non-jury trial is set for October 12, 2027. Of 4,775 votes cast in the congregational vote, 90.35 percent favored leaving.

来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）

图片来源：高地公园联合卫理公会礼拜堂内部（资料图）。CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Inside the sanctuary of Highland Park United Methodist Church (file photo). CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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