A church in Alabama has filed a complaint against a regional body of The United Methodist Church, seeking a court order confirming that they own their historic property.
Church Street Methodist Church of Selma, which reportedly has a membership of around 350 and is the oldest church in the city, filed a complaint on Monday in Dallas County Circuit Court against the UMC Alabama-West Florida Conference.
James McNeil, an attorney with Hobbs & Hain PC of Selma and a member of Church Street UMC, filed the complaint on behalf of the congregation.
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In an interview with The Christian Post, McNeil explained that the congregation wants a court order confirming that they own their campus before undergoing any possible disaffiliation vote.
“The trustees of the church initiated this process and I was delegated by them and the church membership to go forward with preparing a complaint seeking a declaratory judgment as it relates to who has ultimate control over the church property,” he said.
According to the UMC Book of Discipline, all church properties within the denomination are held in trust “for the benefit of the entire denomination, and ownership and usage of church property is subject to the Discipline.”
“The trust is and always has been irrevocable, except as provided in the Discipline. Property can be released from the trust, transferred free of trust or subordinated to the interests of creditors and other third parties only to the extent authority is given by the Discipline,” continued the provision.
McNeil, however, took issue with the claim that the UMC and its conferences have “ultimate control over the property,” citing “neutral principles” of state law as authoritative.
“The trust clause that the Methodist Church is using,” McNeil said, “does not comply with the Alabama law as it relates to the creation of trust. The main issue here is that in order to have a valid trust that relates to real property, there has to be a written document that is signed by all of the parties.”
McNeil maintained that “there is no such document of that type creating a trust as it relates to the property,” adding that “full title to the property should be free and clear of any trust claims by the United Methodist Church.”
The Christian Post reached out to the UMC Alabama-West Florida Conference for this story. A spokesperson emailed a brief statement from the regional body stating: “We were saddened to receive the lawsuit from Church Street United Methodist Church. We are praying for all involved.”
For decades, the UMC was embroiled in a divisive debate over whether to change its rules barring the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals.
At a 2019 special session of the General Conference, delegates voted to approve a temporary measure creating a disaffiliation process for churches that wanted to leave the denomination over the debate.
By the time the provision expired at the end of last year, more than 7,500 congregations had left the UMC, with thousands opting to join the theologically conservative Global Methodist Church.
Earlier this year, the UMC General Conference voted overwhelmingly to remove the rules prohibiting gay marriage and openly gay ordination, as well as a prohibition on funding LGBT advocacy groups.
