Harvest Church could close, and members evicted, lawsuit claims

DOTHAN, Ala. (WTVY) - One of Dothan’s largest churches could be shut down and its members evicted, according to a lawsuit.

Harvest Church filed that suit against United Methodist Church leadership on November 10 in fear the denomination will take over its Fortner Street campus.

Though it seldom affiliates itself with that denomination, Harvest is a Methodist church, growing from three families in the mid-1990′s to its current membership of about 3000. It is recognized for trail-blazing contemporary worship and come-as-you-are atmosphere.

Per the suit, Harvest has substantial fear that the UMC will commandeer the church though, except for a one-time donation, Harvest has paid all construction and operational costs.

But that may not save Harvest.

“UMC purports all property owned or acquired by Harvest Church is actually subject to a legal trust in favor of the UMC denomination,” according to the lawsuit.

Harvest argues that it is autonomous, but fears without a favorable court ruling, Methodists could swoop in and shut down the church, evict its members, and sell property.

“Unless restrained by an (court) injunction, there is accordingly a significant risk that UMC will improperly confiscate or interfere with Harvest Church’s property,” the lawsuit claims.

The suit is essentially stalled pending a vote by Harvest members to move forward and disassociate itself with UMC, which could further entangle this legal dispute.

Until that vote, Harvest is not to divest itself of assets and UMC promises not to interfere with church operations.

Though first declining comment on the matter the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church issued the following statement on Thursday night.

“Harvest has given no official indication to the conference that they plan to disaffiliate from the UMC, nor have they begun the discernment process as laid out in our conference policy. The conference has taken no action or indicated it would take any action towards Harvest Church. The lawyers for both sides have been in contact and agreed how to proceed. This is an unfair representation of the conference’s actions and intentions.”

Though with different circumstances, 11 Alabama churches voted this week to disaffiliate from the UMC because of a doctrine rift and others are expected to do the same, per a November 14 AL.com report.

District Attorney Pat Jones, a Harvest member who provided legal assistance for the property’s purchase in 1999, said in a legal filing it is his understanding that the property would be solely that of Harvest if a doctrine conflict arose.

That seems to indicate the dispute could be driven in part by disagreement with UMC’s stand on divisive issues, though the matter is not specifically addressed in the suit.

Requests for comment from Harvest attorneys went unanswered.

This story updated to further clarify except for a one-time donation Harvest has paid all its costs and a vote to disassociate Harvest from UMC is pending. It has also been updated with statement from UMC.

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