Key points:
- After many long months of preparation, the Leadership Gathering is set to take place this week in Canada.
- The unprecedented event aims to bring lay and clergy from around the world together to imagine a new future for The United Methodist Church.
- Here are answers to frequently asked questions.
About two years ago, the United Methodist Council of Bishops announced plans for a different kind of denomination-wide meeting — one without parliamentary procedure or political wrangling.
Instead of making legislative decisions like General Conference, the bishops envisioned that this international assemblage of United Methodists would use the time to dream and discern where the Holy Spirit might be guiding the denomination next.
Now after many months of preparation, the Leadership Gathering is set to take place this week — Oct. 20-24 at Knox United Church in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Here are answers to frequently asked questions about the event.
What is the Leadership Gathering’s purpose?
The gathering’s theme encapsulates the bishops’ hopes for the gathering: “Emboldened by the Spirit: Imagining a Church Yet to Be.”
In announcing plans for the gathering, then-Council of Bishops President Tracy S. Malone said the assembly would provide “an intentional space to reimagine a more agile and efficient church, a more diverse and inclusive church, a more contextually relevant church and a more evangelistic church… .”
To that end, Malone — who leads the Indiana Conference — and her fellow bishops have invited lay and clergy United Methodists from around the world to engage in this creative work.
The Leadership Gathering comes as the denomination is starting to rebuild after a season of internal strife over LGBTQ inclusion and the disaffiliation of thousands of churches in the U.S. and conferences in west Africa and eastern Europe.
The United Methodist Church also has seen other big changes in the past two years. The 2024 General Conference eliminated longtime, denomination-wide bans on gay clergy and same-sex marriage. Last year, the denomination also ratified a new structure that leaves ordination standards, marriage rules and other decisions up to the denomination’s nine regional conferences including a still-forming regional conference in the U.S.
Also in 2025, the bishops and the Connectional Table — another denominational leadership body — introduced a new vision statement that the denomination is just beginning to live into. That statement is: “The United Methodist Church forms disciples of Jesus Christ who, empowered by the Holy Spirit, love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously in local communities and worldwide connections.”
All these changes will help shape the gathering. Based on a survey of church members earlier this year, Leadership Gathering organizers plan for the gathering to specifically look at how United Methodists can engage in innovative discipleship formation, empower younger generations and strengthen global connections.
Current Council of Bishops President Rubén Saenz Jr. told participants in April that the hope is to explore: “What kind of body must we become so that our theology and our mission can flourish for the sake of the world God loves?”
Why is the gathering in Canada?
Knox United Church, the host of the Leadership Gathering, is part of The United Church of Canada. The Canadian denomination is a fellow member of the World Methodist Council, and its leaders have provided assistance in putting on the event.
Earlier this year, the United Methodist Council of Bishops and United Church of Canada leaders approved an interim covenant that mutually affirms both denominations’ clergy and opens the door to greater cooperation across national borders.
The bishops see the Leadership Gathering as an opportunity to continue strengthening ties. In 2028, the United Methodist General Conference and the United Church’s General Council will vote on a full communion agreement that includes full recognition of each denomination’s sacraments and ministerial orders, allowing clergy to serve across the two denominations long term.
Who is coming to Calgary?
Organizers are expecting at least 294 people to gather at Knox United Church.
That total includes 238 participants, as well as speakers, interpreters, monitors and United Church of Canada representatives
As initially envisioned, the participants were to include all 52 active bishops, three retired bishops who serve as Council of Bishops officers, top executives of the denomination’s 13 general agencies and Connectional Table and three participants invited from each of the denomination’s episcopal areas. The invited participants, selected by each bishops, were to include a clergy member, lay member and least one member age 35 or younger. The bishops also invited other church leaders to ensure a variety of voices are at the table.
As of Oct. 12, 172 of the bishops’ chosen participants had confirmed they would be coming to Calgary.
California-Nevada Conference Bishop Sandra Kay Olewine has been working with Wespath to help as many of those invited to secure the necessary visas to attend. But as of Oct. 12, 22 participants were still waiting to know whether they would be granted the required visas.
Seven people in Africa, Europe and the Philippines were denied visas. Another two were on U.S. visas that would not allow them to travel to Canada.
“In a few cases, bishops were able to invite other persons to come from their regions when people in their episcopal area have been denied or unable to get a visa,” Olewine said.
Also complicating travel has been the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Because of the outbreak, Canadian authorities have suspended even processing visas for people living in Congo and neighboring Uganda and South Sudan through Nov. 27. Those restrictions mean 19 participants from Congo will not be able to be in Calgary.
However, just because some of those invited can’t make it to Calgary does not mean they won’t be able to participate.
“For those unable to obtain visas or for other reasons are unable to be present in person, there will be three virtual cohorts that will be in real time so that their input is incorporated daily with the input from those who are in person,” Olewine said.
See the list of invited participants.
What will the participants do in Calgary?
Participants will move between worship, plenary presentations and covenant group conversations. Each participant is assigned to one of five covenant cohorts on discipleship, leadership, impact, stewardship and accountability. Each cohort includes three smaller covenant groups, where much of the discernment will happen.
Over three days, the groups will name the reality The United Methodist Church faces now, begin to respond with new ways of living out the church’s mission and imagine what could be possible. By the end of Day Three, each Covenant Group will use Faithful Imagination to discern three new possibilities for the church yet to be. Out of these three, one will be highlighted as priority.
On the first day, participants will be asked to affirm a covenant for their work together. See the covenant and the related video series.
For more details, see the program booklet (all times in Calgary time, U.S. Mountain time).
How much does the gathering cost and how is it funded?
Initially, bishops estimated the cost of the Leadership Gathering would be $1.1 million. That budget has now decreased in part because of the move to virtual cohorts for participants who can’t travel to Calgary and in part because bishops now have a clearer picture of the actual expense involved.
The current budget is $955,198.61, said Bishop Dan Schwerin, who leads the gathering’s finance subcommittee. He also is bishop of the Northern Illinois and Wisconsin conferences.
The Episcopal Fund, which general-church apportionments support, will cover the costs for the 52 active bishops to attend. The general agencies’ top executives are also paying for their attendance through their agency budgets.
The gathering also has received support from Wespath, the denomination’s retirement benefits and investments agency; the National Association of United Methodist Foundations; Wesleyan Impact Partners; general agencies; some large United Methodist churches and individual bishops around the globe.
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“We’re grateful for the generosity and support of so many conferences and foundations that have helped make this gathering possible, especially amid the financial and logistical challenges,” Schwerin said.
The bishops still need to raise $22,000 to cover the full cost. Donate to the Leadership Gathering.
How can you follow what’s happening?
United Methodist Communications will be livestreaming the Leadership Gathering plenaries at resourceumc.org/leadershipgathering.
UM News plans to also have daily wrap-ups starting Oct. 21 at umnews.org.
What comes after the Leadership Gathering?
The Leadership Gathering’s design team plans for the participants to put together 15 prioritized recommendations for living into the denomination’s vision and creating a future-facing United Methodism.
The organizers will take those ideas to assemble a report for the bishops and wider church. Some of those ideas could end up as legislation before the next General Conference, scheduled May 8-16, 2028, in Minneapolis.
Even before the Leadership Gathering convenes, United Methodists are sharing ideas to support local churches, Fresh Expressions and revamped denominational structures for participants to consider.
Saenz, who also leads the Horizon Texas Conference, told his fellow bishops last year that he expects the gathering’s findings will be compiled into a report to be shared with the wider church in early 2027.
“It will be a resource that the church can use to imagine, to love boldly, serve joyfully and lead courageously at the local level, annual conference level and also at the worldwide level,” he said.
Hahn is assistant news editor for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.
