Bishop Tracy Smith Malone is the President of the Council of Bishops and currently serves as the resident bishop for the Indiana Episcopal Area. (Photo from www.unitedmethodistbishops.org)

WASHINGTON, D. C. - The Council of Bishops (COB) of The United Methodist Church (UMC) is announcing a Leadership Gathering for 2026 that will advance the positive momentum of the 2020/24 General Conference and prepare the denomination for the 2028 General Conference.

The bishops will hold the Leadership Gathering instead of calling a Special Session of General Conference as it was earlier announced.

“The Council of Bishops determined that a Leadership Gathering is the best arena for building on the good work and progress made at the General Conference and it allows for greater collaboration with leaders across the denomination as we move forward together,” said COB President Bishop Tracy S. Malone.

The purpose of the Leadership Gathering will be threefold.

A. To maintain momentum regarding implementation of the various components of the regionalization legislation. This could include developing adaptive strategies to respond to ratification results as they become known.

B. To gather hope, vision, and imagination for the future of the UMC from across the connectional landscape.

C. To initiate preparations for the 2028 General Conference by identifying programmatic, financial and structural adaptations that may need to be considered in order to maintain momentum. This should include consultation/collaboration with the Commission on General Conference regarding the design of the General Conference.

The Leadership Gathering participants will include all active bishops and COB officers; three leaders from each Episcopal Area selected by the bishop in consultation with the lay and clergy leadership of the Episcopal Area; and the general secretaries.

Approximately 50 additional leaders from across the denomination will be invited by the COB. This group will include emerging young leaders, theologians, innovative leaders, missional champions and retired bishops with particular experience or expertise.

The Leadership Gathering will be a five-day event held in April or May 2026. Bishop Malone will appoint a Design Team to implement the Gathering. Specific dates and the venue will be announced at a later date.

“God continues to be on the move through The United Methodist Church. There is a renewed spirit and a renewed hope grounded in the recent decisions of the General Conference and in what the future holds for the next vital expression of our denomination,” Bishop Malone said.

She added: “This leadership gathering will provide the discernment space where intergenerational and interdisciplinary spiritual leaders will assemble to do generative, missional, innovative and strategic thinking together. This will be 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 that maintains its focus on our core mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”