Baltimore-Washington Conference Files Suit To Uphold Wesley’s Trust Clause

Dear Clergy and Laity of the Baltimore-Washington & Peninsula-Delaware Area:

I greet you in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. It is with regret, but also with resolve, that I write to inform you that the Baltimore-Washington Conference of The United Methodist Church has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia against a newly created corporation named Calvary Methodist Church, Inc. Calvary Methodist Church, Inc. wrongly claims to be the successor of Calvary United Methodist Church in Martinsburg, West Virginia, to hold full title to all of Calvary UMC’s property, free and clear of express trust provisions in Calvary UMC’s own deeds and in The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church. The Trust Clause requires all church property—at every level of the denomination—to be held and used for the benefit of ministry and membership of The United Methodist Church and is subject to the Discipline.