The Court of Appeals in North Carolina has overruled a trial court and held that the trial court has jurisdiction to resolve a dispute over who owns the church property when a local church asks to disaffiliate from the national denomination. The trial court had declined to consider the case on the ground that the issue was an ecclesiastical matter from which a civil court was required to abstain. The Fifth Avenue United Methodist Church of Wilmington had held services in their church building since its construction in 1889. In 1968, the Fifth Avenue church affiliated with the United Methodist Church denomination and accepted governance under its Book of Discipline. In February 2023, the...