Alabama Supreme Court rules on dispute over control of historic Alabama Methodist church founded in 1837
Author: Greg Garrison/AL.com
The United Methodist Church scored a victory on Friday when the Alabama Supreme Court dismissed a case against them over control of church property in Auburn.
The state Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, dismissing a lawsuit filed by a group of disgruntled group of members from Auburn who had asked the court to force a vote allowing the congregation to leave the denomination.
Auburn Methodist Coalition, made up of members of Auburn United Methodist Church, sued the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church two years ago, asking a court to order a vote of the church membership on whether the church should disaffiliate.
In 2022, members of Auburn United Methodist Church began to discuss disaffiliation with the denomination, but said that the administrative board voted not to pursue disaffiliation in April 2023 without allowing a congregational vote.
Those in favor of disaffiliation formed the coalition and in October 2023 asked a trial court to order a vote of church members on disaffiliation, and declare that the conference did not own church property and that it belonged solely to the members of the local church.
The Lee County trial court denied the conference’s request to dismiss the case.
Members of the coalition admitted that a vote of the congregation was required to determine who was authorized to hold the title.
“The threshold issue in this case is, thus, not who holds title to the local church property,” the Supreme Court wrote. “rather, it is who is authorized to act on behalf of AUMC. The Coalition insists that only a court-mandated disaffiliation vote can resolve this threshold issue.”
The Supreme Court ruled that it was not in position to force a congregational vote, since “under the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, Alabama courts may not adjudicate disputes that are ecclesiastical in nature, including matters of church doctrine, polity, or internal governance.”
The court cited its previous ruling against 44 churches that had sought a court-mandated disaffiliation vote.
“Our court determined that the First Amendment prohibited the trial court from ordering a disaffiliation vote,” the court wrote.
The Auburn church was founded in 1837 and the property deed dates to 1843.
In 1939, the Methodist Episcopal Church merged with other Methodist denominations to become the Methodist Church. In 1968, the Methodist Church merged with the Evangelical United Brethren Church to form the United Methodist Church.
The church filed incorporation documents in 1953 as Auburn Methodist Church, but in 1988 changed the named to Auburn United Methodist Church.
The ruling is the latest in a long line of court rulings both for and against the conference, as dozens of churches have filed lawsuits against the Alabama-West Florida Conference, alleging they were denied a chance to leave the denomination and take their property with them.
United Methodist leaders in Alabama say that insurance will cover most of the cost of legal battles that the denomination is involved with, as the Alabama-West Florida Conference resists efforts of churches hoping to leave the denomination and take their property with them.
More than 40 churches in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle sued after their requests to leave the denomination were stalled before a Dec. 31, 2023, disaffiliation deadline. Paragraph 2553, a special provision allowing disaffiliation due to disagreement over issues such as gay marriage, expired at that point.
The United Methodist General Conference voted in May 2024 to reverse its longstanding bans on gay marriage and ordination of LGBTQ clergy.
