From Oct. 20-24, United Methodists from all over the world, including Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater New Jersey, will come together for a Leadership Gathering in Calgary, Canada, to imagine the future of the United Methodist Church (UMC). The Leadership Gathering’s theme will be “Emboldened by the Spirit: Imagining a Church Yet to Be.” The Council of Bishops called for the gathering following General Conference 2024, a Spirit-filled turning point in the denomination’s history.
The Leadership Gathering: One Part of a Movement
The October Leadership Gathering is the first of its kind, bringing together around 300 United Methodist participants – bishops, general secretaries, clergy, laity, and young adults – from around the world to explore and imagine rather than to legislate. And while the gathering represents a significant and exciting moment in contemporary United Methodism, it is only one part of a much broader response to the Holy Spirit’s leading.
In October 2025, a denomination-wide survey sought input from all lay and clergy United Methodists. The results of the survey showed that youth and young adult engagement was the highest priority of congregational focus. Yet only 6.5% of survey respondents were under the age of 35. A second youth/young adult survey was created to hear from more young people. Discipleship formation was ranked as the second highest priority.
The survey also revealed a significant difference in how connected United Methodists feel to the wider Church. While 87.7% of respondents were from the United States, only 35% of U.S. respondents felt “very connected” to the wider UMC. By contrast, a majority of respondents from the African continent, the Philippines, and Germany felt very connected.
As our EPA&GNJ representatives explained in presentations at the 2026 Annual Conferences, “Sometimes, the privilege of our U.S. context—and our tendency to identify so heavily with our own Annual Conferences—actually isolates us. It can impede our ability to feel the heartbeat of the worldwide church connection.”
The gathering has been shaped by months of preparation. From January through March, the Council of Bishops hosted three webinars connecting the renewed vision statement to Wesleyan theology and the mission of the UMC. In April, participants gathered virtually for prayer, orientation, and small-group discernment.
Together, these conversations have helped prepare participants for the October gathering and for the opportunity to bring the perspectives, hopes, and questions of their own contexts into this wider conversation.
Meet the EPA&GNJ Leadership Gathering Participants
The Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater New Jersey Annual Conferences will be represented at the Leadership Gathering by individuals who are deeply invested in the future of the UMC: Linda Mier, Mikayla Barrier, and the Rev. YoungHak Lee. Zachary Holder, who was originally slated to attend the gathering but can no longer do so, remains a vital voice in the conversation. Each brings a unique perspective and experience to this shared work.
Mikayla Barrier
Mikayla Barrier, a young adult from Trinity UMC in Hackettstown, New Jersey, has been deeply formed by support, encouragement, and opportunities within the UMC. She has grown from a participant in her church’s youth ministry to an active volunteer with Sunday School, youth ministry, and Vacation Bible School. Mikayla also serves on her church’s hospitality team and leads its young adult group. After attending Annual Conference for the first time in May, Mikayla was inspired to become more involved on the conference level – as a Cultivate intern this summer and on the volunteer team for the upcoming IGNITE conference.
Mikayla is looking forward to connecting with other United Methodists from around the world at the Leadership Gathering. “My hope is that through all of us collaborating and sharing our own thoughts and experiences, we will be able to…build on all of the amazing work that God is doing for us,” shares Mikayla. “Above all, I hope that we…will be able to envision a bright future for the UMC where all members feel valued, loved, and safe.”
Linda Mier
Linda Mier, a layperson and member of more than thirty years from Morrisville UMC in Eastern Pennsylvania, was born and raised in the UMC. For Linda, showing up is at the center of how she lives her faith – be it for the choir, as president of her local United Women in Faith, on the finance committee or church council. But Linda doesn’t just show up to things in which she’s directly involved, she tries to support every ministry of the church and to extend that service into the community through involvement at her local library, elementary school, and through advocacy work.
As she prepares to attend the Leadership Gathering, Linda’s hopes reflect those of the denomination-wide survey respondents. “We need to be a place where the high school students and young adults feel welcome and at home and want to participate,” Linda reflects, “and not just because ‘we need’ them.” Linda also hopes the gathering will generate new and closer relationships between United Methodist people from across the world.
Linda’s desire for a more welcoming church extends to the way United Methodists communicate. She hopes the church will use language that is accessible to people without formal theological training, both in sharing what emerges from the gathering and as it communicates about its future.
Zachary Holder
Zachary Holder, a young adult leader from Greater New Jersey, began his journey with the UMC as a youth with Roselle UMC where he was given the opportunity not only to participate in worship and programming but to have a voice in leadership. He went on to serve as a pastoral assistant under the late Rev. Dr. Tanya Lynn Bennett, working closely with Sunday school and youth group. Zachary also completed an internship with Black Methodists for Church Renewal under the Rev. Kay Dubuisson “creating space for children and youth to see themselves through books…and culturally responsive pedagogy.”
The internship involved deep listening to young adults in the congregation and in the community. Listening, Zachary shared, taught him that young people are yearning for “a space that they can fully be themselves without…feeling like they need to fit into the boxes of their grandparents,” a place where they are not told to run audiovisual equipment simply because they can navigate technology, but where they are recognized and validated in their God-given calls.
As the Leadership Gathering approaches, Zachary hopes that it will be an opportunity for the Church to be honest with itself, for leadership to wrestle with what they learn and “to not just make a comfortable decision but to make an informed decision.”
Rev. YoungHak Lee
The Rev. YoungHak Lee serves as the lead pastor at Paoli UMC in Eastern Pennsylvania. He is also pursuing a Ph.D. in New Testament at Drew University. Over the past fifteen years Pastor YoungHak has served in campus ministry, youth and children’s ministry, Korean immigrant ministry, Army religious support, hospice chaplaincy, and local church ministry.
As Pastor YoungHak prepares for the Leadership Gathering, the image of becoming “good ancestors” is especially poignant as he himself has just become a new father to his son, Liebe. “I find myself asking what kind of family, church, and world [Liebe]—and all our children—will inherit from us,” he shares. Just as family can be a source of both support and disappointment, joy and pain, as Pastor YoungHak shares from his own journey, he hopes that the Leadership Gathering will make space to name both people’s “gratitude and grief” for the church. “I hope the gathering helps us honor what has been entrusted to us while releasing what no longer serves God’s mission,” he says. “Most of all, I hope younger generations and global voices will not be treated as additions to a conversation whose direction has already been determined. They must be among the very first voices shaping it.”
At the Leadership Gathering
At the Leadership Gathering, participants will engage in three days of Methodist “holy conferencing.” They will work in cohorts focused on five priorities – discipleship, leadership, impact, stewardship, and accountability – exploring each through three lenses: innovative disciple formation, empowering younger generations, and amplifying global voices.
Each day will follow a connected movement: “Name it. Respond to it. Imagine it.” Participants will first name and diagnose the realities facing the UMC, then explore possible responses, and finally identify bold experiments the Church can test in the coming years.
Be Part of the Conversation
As we entrust our representatives with the conversation in Calgary, we are invited not only to stay informed about the Leadership Gathering, but to be active participants in imagining and living into a Church yet to be. There are several ways you can plug in:
- Pray. Pray for the Leadership Gathering and its participants, especially for Linda, Mikayla, Pastor YoungHak and Zachary. Pastor YoungHak asks churches to pray for wisdom, humility, and courage as participants listen across cultural, theological, and generational differences to discern what the Spirit is calling the Church to be.
- Learn. If you haven’t already, watch the “Love Boldly,” “Serve Joyfully,” and “Lead Courageously,” webinars. You can also purchase and read the resources that are informing the Leadership Gathering discussions.
- Speak. Share your perspective with our representatives! Linda Mier invites you to share your thoughts by email to lmiermumc@gmail.com. If you are under 35, please fill out the youth/young adult survey. If you’re 35 or over, please share it with youth and young adults that you know.
- Follow along. The Council of Bishops Leadership Gathering page is the central place for event information, resources, updates, and livestream details. You can find the gathering agenda here. Follow the United Methodists of Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater New Jersey on Facebook to hear directly from our representatives. In November, the Council of Bishops will share what emerged from the Leadership Gathering.
- Live it. Start living into the new vision in your local church now. Start living into the new vision in your local church now. Pastor YoungHak encourages churches to listen locally by asking younger people what kind of church they could imagine and inviting them into decisions about worship, mission, budgets, and priorities. Zachary similarly encourages churches to test and try new things, learn from what works, and find ways to include more people.
The Leadership Gathering may take place in Calgary, but the work of imagining a Church yet to be begins in every community where United Methodists gather, worship, and walk together in faith.
As heirs to the faith entrusted to us by those who came before, we too are becoming ancestors to generations we may never meet. May we be faithful stewards of what we have received and courageous participants in co-creating what we will pass on.