10/27/2026
For Immediate Release
October 26, 2026
Council of Bishops
The United Methodist Church
Imagining the Future of The United Methodist Church
The Council of Bishops 2026 Leadership Gathering
Calgary, AB. — Last week, the Council of Bishops brought together leaders from across The United Methodist Church for the first-ever Leadership Gathering event, to prayerfully discern the future of the UMC. The non-legislative meeting consisted of holy listening and faithful imagination that sent attendees forth with a spirit to bring action to the Church of tomorrow. The 280+ invitees were hosted at Calgary’s Knox United Church and via online livestream from October 20-24, 2026.
In his opening sermon, Council of Bishops President and gathering co-chair, Bishop Ruben Saenz, Jr. reminded those gathered that the Holy Spirit is who empowers their ministry and the work ahead, as reported by UMNews.
“The church is not the source of that transforming power,” he said. “The transforming power is God’s. We are a people being changed by it and called to bear witness to it. We belong to the very world God is renewing. Before asking how we will change the world, let us ask how God is changing us,” added Saenz.
Stephanie Henry (laity, Pacific Northwest Annual Conference) served as a co-chair of the meeting’s design team shared that the “Leadership Gathering was designed around the UMC vision statement that has encouraged members to love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously. This week, we have put flesh on the vision statement, by being vulnerable and naming our realities and imagining the Church yet to come.”
Ashley Boggan, PhD., General Secretary of the Commission of Archives and History and part of the design team, noted that “it has been a privilege to be a member of the design team. As a historian of The UMC, I am hopeful that Methodists 100 years from now look back to this moment as when The UMC began to truly rethink its space in this world.”
Taking this event from a concept to a well-drafted plan, Bishop Sandra K. Olewine of the California-Nevada Episcopal Area and member of the design team shared, “Over the last 2.5 years, the concept for this gathering morphed, moving from the consideration of a special session of a General Conference to a gathering of leaders from the regions of our Church, who could engage in holy conferencing that was not rooted in legislative process.”
Along with spirit-filled worship and inspirational and thought-provoking speakers, the covenant groups provided space for deep discernment that focused on a flow of naming realities of a church that can no longer be ignored; envisioning how we might need to live differently in response to the realities named; and practicing faithful imagination.
Leaders in attendance included all active bishops and three retired bishops, the top executives of the 13 General Agencies, lay and clergy leaders from most episcopal areas in the connection (except those named below), and young people, theologians and others invited by the Council of Bishops for their diverse perspectives.
An overview of the participants follows:
1/3 of attendees were 35 years or younger
281 participants attended in person, 46 had online access
7 Episcopal Areas were represented from Africa
3 Annual Conferences were represented from Europe
3 Annual Conferences were represented from the Philippines
37 Annual Conferences were represented from the United States
Bishop Saenz closed the event by proclaiming, “In 2050, someone may never know our names or hear about this Gathering, yet find a Church ready to welcome their questions, release their gifts, and love their neighbors because we were faithful now. That future of a United Methodist Church Yet to Be is worth our courage today.”
The Council of Bishops will spend time reflecting and prayerfully considering next steps at their meeting in November and by January 2027, a Leadership Gathering report will be shared with the wider Church.
