The Colorado Supreme Court declined on Monday to weigh in on whether a lower court improperly inserted itself into a religious dispute between a Colorado congregation and a South Korea-based parent church.

Korean New Life Methodist Church of Colorado Springs started in 1996 as a prayer group in the founder’s home. One year later, the founder, Jong Kim, created a nonprofit corporation that eventually declared it would “join” the Korean Methodist Church in Seoul.

The Korean Methodist Church has a list of rules pertaining to membership, property registration, dues payments, mortgages and administrative protocols. However, the Colorado Springs congregation’s nonprofit board enacted bylaws that made no mention of the parent organization’s policies. The local church, beyond the name association, also did not register its property with the Seoul-based organization.

Korean New Life Methodist Church sold its church and purchased new property without involving the Korean Methodist Church. The directors also explicitly passed resolutions to maintain control of its own finances.

After a new pastor joined in 2014, a power struggle began that involved the district superintendent of the Korean Methodist Church firing the board members of the Colorado Springs congregation. The board retaliated by terminating the pastor and ending the affiliation with the parent organization. Board members then sought relief from state court to regain their control of the church and prevent the pastor from setting foot on the property.

In 2018, El Paso County District Court Judge David Prince heard contradictory testimony about whether, in fact, the Colorado Springs church fell within the authority of the Korean Methodist Church. The founder denied any intent to submit, while another original board member said the Colorado Springs congregation paid dues to the Korean Methodist Church and let the parent organization be involved with some activities.

Prince decided that the Korean New Life Methodist Church had not submitted to the parent church’s authority. The Korean Methodist Church appealed, claiming the district court judge improperly intervened in a matter of religion, instead of a property dispute.

“The First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution preclude civil courts from resolving religious disputes involving religious law and decisions of ecclesiastical tribunals, including disputes involving church governance,” wrote Judge Rebecca R. Freyre for the three-member appeals panel. “But when a dispute involves the ownership and control of church property, our supreme court both permits and requires civil courts to apply neutral principles of law in resolving them.”

Freyre described how courts are obligated to defer to religious organizations on questions of internal rules. If religious doctrine is not an issue, though, judges may resolve litigation involving property and control.

“No Colorado court,” wrote Freyre, “has decided the questions presented here — whether the local church actually surrendered its control and submitted to the authority of the national denomination.”

Relying on the bylaws, resolutions and actions of the board, the Court of Appeals affirmed that there was no formal association of the Colorado Springs organization to the Seoul-based church other than the name.

The appellate panel found prior records of property sales and a mortgage that the local church entered into without consulting Korean Methodist Church. “And, the local church never registered the property with the denomination, contrary to the denomination rules,” the court noted.

Because the Supreme Court denied the parent organization’s appeal, the lower court’s ruling stands. Attorneys for the organizations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is Korean New Life Methodist Church v. Korean Methodist Church of the Americas.