October 20–24, 2026 | Knox United Church | Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Bishops, church leaders, lay, and clergy from around the globe will come together to discuss today’s challenges and begin to co-create the church of tomorrow at the 2026 Leadership Gathering.
The Leadership Gathering is not a legislative body like General Conference, nor a place for conflict resolution. This is a first-of-its-kind representative gathering of the church to pray, to listen, and to envision the move of the Spirit for the church of tomorrow.
While it may have influence upon General Conference, it is not intended to undermine nor supersede the critical work and function of General Conference. Rather, the hope is that the Leadership Gathering will inspire and encourage the church to rekindle the Spirit’s gifts within it. The 5-day event will include worship, keynote speakers, workshops, and collaboration. Participants will center conversation, prayer, and discernment around living into the vision of The United Methodist Church to form disciples of Jesus Christ who, empowered by the Holy Spirit, love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously in local communities and worldwide
connections.
Although the Leadership Gathering will have limited attendance, the Council of Bishops is encouraging engagement among members of the worldwide church.
- Participate in a survey of United Methodists around the globe. Your voice will help inform
how the church listens, discerns, and leads together in the years ahead. Estimated
completion time: 10–12 minutes. The information gathered from the survey will be
reported to the general church in the months leading up to October Leadership
Gathering. - A series of three webinars oriented around the UMC’s vision statement’s call to “love
boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously.” Webinar registration and recordings can
be found at resourceumc.org/LeadershipGathering - Online livestream panel discussion on April 25, 2026. The four-hour event will feature
United Methodist leaders from the U.S., Philippines, Europe, and Africa as well as
Catholic and Protestant ecumenical partners. Details will be available
at resourceumc.org/LeadershipGathering
Key takeaways from the Leadership Gathering will be compiled into a report expected to be released to the wider church in January 2027. The hope is that the report will inspire and encourage the church at every level to live out the vision to love boldly, serve joyfully and lead courageously into the future through the power of the Holy Spirit.
