Highland Park United Methodist Church
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Highland Park United Methodist Church | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Highland Park United Methodist Church | |
| 32°50′14″N 96°47′10″W / 32.837328°N 96.786190°W | |
| Location | 3300 Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, Texas |
| Country | United States |
| Denomination | United Methodist Church |
| Membership | 14,852 |
| Weekly attendance | 4,341 |
| Website | hpumc.org |
| History | |
| Founded | 1916 |
| Dedicated | 1943 |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Mark Lemmon Roscoe DeWitt |
| Clergy | |
| Pastor(s) | Paul Rasmussen Matt Tuggle Walt Marcum Chelsea Peddecord Camille May |
Highland Park United Methodist Church is an American megachurch. A congregation of the United Methodist Church, it is located in Dallas, Texas, adjacent to the campus of Southern Methodist University.
In February 1916, a Methodist congregation met on the campus of Southern Methodist University for the first time to worship together.[1] It was organized as a congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS). It was initially named University MECS, but by the fall of that year, the student congregation joined Methodists in the newly forming Town of Highland Park and the church was renamed Highland Park MECS. A year later, in 1917, a temporary church building called "The Little Brown Church" was erected.[1]
The current sanctuary was designed by architect Mark Lemmon (1889–1975) and Roscoe DeWitt (1894-1975) and built in 1927.[1][2] The first service in the sanctuary was held on February 6, 1927, when Umphrey Lee served as the pastor.[1] The Great Depression came and it took 15 years to pay off the debt. When it was paid, the church building was dedicated in 1943.
Lee left Highland Park Methodist in 1936 and was followed by Marshall Steel, who served from 1936 to 1957. Following Steel, William Dickinson served from 1958 to 1972. He was followed by Leighton K. Farrell], the church's longest serving minister, who was appointed in 1972 and served as senior pastor until 1995.
In 1995, the Rev. Mark Craig became senior minister, a position he held until 2013.[1] Rev. Paul Rasmussen served as senior minister from 2013 to 2026.[1] In 2026, Rev. Matt Tuggle became the senior minister.
In 2010, after much restoration, the former Munger Place United Methodist Church located in the Munger Place Historic District, became the Old East Dallas satellite campus of Highland Park United Methodist Church, operating as Munger Place Church. In 2024, Munger Place Church was spun off from HPUMC and now operates once again as an independent United Methodist Church.[1][3]
In 2017, HPUMC launched a new campus in North Dallas, called The Grove Church, located on the site of the former Schreiber Memorial United Methodist Church.[4]
In January 2021, HPUMC launched a new campus, Uptown Church, that met in the House of Blues in the Uptown neighborhood of Dallas.[5] It was one of the first churches within the United Methodist denomination that was planted and led by two female ministers.[6] After almost three years of faithful ministry, the leaders of HPUMC made the decision to close Uptown Church, with Uptown Church's last service being held on November 12, 2023.
As of 2023, HPUMC had 14,852 members and an average attendance of 4,341.[7]
