Judge rules for First United Methodist Church of Oklahoma City in disaffiliation dispute

A judge ruled in favor of a local church on Monday, saying regional leaders' intentional delays prevented the congregation from ending its affiliation with the United Methodist Church in the spring.

Oklahoma County District Court Judge Aletia Timmons sided with First United Methodist Church of Oklahoma City, 131 NW 4.

She ruled that the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference singled out the downtown Oklahoma City church in several ways to keep the congregation from disaffiliating with 55 other Oklahoma houses of worship at an April meeting. Monday, Oklahoma United Methodist Conference leaders said they would appeal the judge's ruling "without delay."

"The ruling today blatantly interferes with what is and should be an internal church process protected under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution," the conference said in a prepared statement.

More: From the Land Run to the bombing, First United Methodist's past is tied to Oklahoma City

"The District Court has no right to intervene in the internal affairs of a religious entity, and this unwarranted and erroneous decision represents a threat to all institutions of faith within the State of Oklahoma. ... This is not a property dispute."

What the ruling could mean for the United Methodist Church in Oklahoma

Timmons' ruling has broader implications for Oklahoma United Methodists — and for former United Methodist who already cut ties with the international faith group.

Under Timmons' decision, a special disaffiliation meeting that was held in April must be recreated by Oklahoma United Methodist Bishop Jimmy Nunn, but this time, First Church's disaffiliation request must be considered and voted on for ratification by United Methodist delegates. Timmons gave Nunn until Aug. 6 to hold this disaffiliation gathering and she said he must have delegates from the 55 churches that disaffiliated in April return for the vote in order to recreate the environment that First Church expected to have in April.

First Church trustees filed suit on June 1, accusing regional conference leaders of violating their contract with the church with a series of actions that began with regional leaders' cancellation of a congregational vote to disaffiliate. First Church's trustees were granted a temporary restraining order on June 1 to prevent regional leaders from evicting the congregation and seizing roughly $30 million in assets, including the church building. First Church leaders claimed the matter is about regional leaders' alleged breach of contract and it is essentially a dispute over the church's property and not an an ecclesiastical issue.

'This is the next best thing'

Monday, Hardy Patton, vice chairman of First Church's board of trustees, said the congregation was elated that the judge ruled in their favor, particularly because she upheld their February vote to disaffiliate after their January vote was cancelled. He said they also were grateful for her effort to recreate the disaffiliation environment First Church would have had if not for regional leaders' delays.

"We were pleased with that portion of the ruling because we were trying to find a way to keep us whole and because those delegates are no longer available in the October ratification process," he said

"We were very pleased by that. I mean, obviously, we were hoping just to simply be deemed ratified, but this is the next best thing."

Previously: First Church OKC files restraining order, lawsuit as Methodist split tensions rise

Nunn called three special meetings for Oklahoma churches to sever ties. The first meeting was held in October 2022 and 29 churches disaffiliated. The 55 churches that disaffiliated in April included St. Luke's, at the time, the largest United Methodist Church in the state. A third disaffiliation meeting is set for October.

Timmons said officials with the conference, a regional affiliate of the United Methodist Church, did not adhere to the denomination's Book of Discipline Paragraph 2553, which is a special provision created by the United Methodist Church's General Conference to allow churches a "gracious exit" path to take their property and assets with them when they severed ties with the denomination over the issue of human sexuality. She disagreed with regional conference leaders' assertions that they were following the disaffiliation agreement they created under the provision of Paragraph 2553 and they could change it because they had the discretion to do so.

"It doesn't add up," she said.

The judge said regional leaders admitted to requiring First Church to have a viability study on the church's finances and ministry but they didn't have the parameters of the study already in place. She said the timing of regional leaders' bringing up problems with First Church's membership rolls seemed disingenuous, along with repeated delays in meetings to complete the viability study.

"That's troubling to me. Best case scenario, they were busy. The worst case scenario, is the national church sat on it so they would miss it (April disaffiliation vote)," Timmons said.

Conference leaders share testimony

The third day of the hearing mostly included comments from regional conference leaders, such as Nunn and Patricia "Tish" Malloy, the conference's director of transitional ministries.

Nunn's remarks seemed to focus on the regional conference's duties. He said bishops have the responsibility to interpret the United Methodist Church's Book of Discipline, a policy book.

The bishop also said that regional conference leaders have the power to made additional provisions to disaffiliation agreements as long as those additional provisions (like the viability study required of First Church) don't conflict with the Book of Discipline.

He said he had been concerned about First Church because all three of the pastors who served at the church during his tenure as bishop had asked to be reassigned elsewhere. He said another concern was that less than 100 people were attending weekly worship services in First Church's building which has a sanctuary that has at least 1,000 seats.

Notably, Malloy refuted statements attributed to her on the second day of the disaffiliation dispute hearing. A First Church leader claimed Malloy told him that the United Methodist Church would have a presence in downtown Oklahoma City and First Church could decide whether that presence would be their church or St. Luke's, which was a nearby United Methodist house of worship, at the time.

"I do not recall making the statement," Malloy said. "I would think I would remember it if I said it. It is not like me to make a statement like that."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma judge rules for First Church-OKC in Methodist disaffiliation