White’s Chapel in Southlake votes 93.6% to disaffiliate from United Methodist Church

The congregation of White’s Chapel in Southlake voted Monday with 93.6% in favor of disaffiliating from the United Methodist Church, according to an email from church leadership.

It ends 54 years of affiliation between the United Methodists and the 150-year-old congregation that traces its roots back to 1871 wagon trains.

Church leadership acknowledged the difficult decision of disaffiliating, but said they look forward to taking a more outward approach to ministry by, “reaching people for Christ across the street and around the world.”

White’s Chapel will join will join 81 other churches in the Central Texas Conference who have disaffiliated, the Rev. Judy Hunt said in a statement to the Star-Telegram ahead of Monday’s vote.

Hunt previously told the Star-Telegram the division between White’s Chapel and the UMC broke down along the lines of the purpose of the church.

White’s Chapel wanted to maintain its autonomy as a church that caters to parishioners from a wide swath of political backgrounds, the Rev. Larry Duggins said in a phone call Tuesday.

Duggins referenced the fissure within the UMC over questions about same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy.

While the UMC is trying to resolve those questions, Duggins said White’s Chapel wanted to maintain its practice of being a church where parishioners with diametrically opposed views can still worship in harmony.

“It’s a way in which the church can act as an example to the world in light of the way we are having such difficulty talking to each other in the political world right now,” he said.

Duggins also noted a change at the UMC’s 2019 general conference that loosened the rules around how individual churches could disaffiliate with the wider conference.

Under the old system, individual churches would have to reimburse the UMC for the value of all church property from the building to the paperclips, Duggins said.

Under the new rules, individual churches are only required to pay two years of membership dues in addition to covering any unfunded pension liabilities in order to disaffiliate, he said.

Duggins called the new rule a window of opportunity for the church to gain some autonomy in order to maintain its practice of being a church that caters to a broad community.

Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr., who is serving as the resident bishop for the UMC’s North Texas Conference, expressed his disappointment at the results of the White’s Chapel vote, in an emailed statement to the Star-Telegram.

“We simply can do more in mission for Christ together than apart,” the statement read.

White’s Chapel’s decision to disaffiliate must be ratified at the UMC’s annual conference in June 2023 before it can go into effect, Bishop Saenz Jr. wrote in his statement.

Until that time, he wrote that he expects a fruitful partnership between his conference, the White’s Chapel clergy and its congregation.

This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 12:31 PM.

Harrison Mantas

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

817-390-7040

Harrison Mantas has covered Fort Worth city government, agencies and people since September 2021. He likes to live tweet city hall meetings, and help his fellow Fort Worthians figure out what’s going on.