SUS-UNY representatives return from worldwide gathering with renewed hope for the UMC’s future
By Matthew Shineman, Director of Communications, Susquehanna Conference | Email
What happens when nearly 300 United Methodists from around the world come together to imagine the future of their church?
For the Rev. Kris Sledge, Christina McDermott, and Robyn Vernon, the answer begins with relationships, honest conversations, and a renewed sense of hope.
The three representatives from the Susquehanna and Upper New York Episcopal Area joined United Methodist leaders from around the world in Calgary, Alberta, this month for the Council of Bishops’ 2026 Leadership Gathering. The gathering, the first of its kind, invited participants to reflect honestly on the denomination’s present realities and imagine what God might be calling The United Methodist Church to become.
While they did not return with a blueprint for success, they did return with something they considered just as important: a deeper appreciation for the people who make up the worldwide connection and a renewed excitement for what lies ahead.
Finding Connection Across a Worldwide Church
For Rev. Sledge, lead pastor of The Journey Church in Harrisburg, one statement from a bishop during a covenant group conversation captured the significance of the week.
“It’s nothing short of a miracle that The United Methodist Church still exists.”
Those words stayed with Rev. Sledge long after the conversation ended.
“After spending the week in Calgary, I’m heading home with a renewed sense of hope for our beloved church,” Rev. Sledge said. “God has not abandoned The United Methodist Church. Our future may look different than our past, but I believe it’s going to be beautiful!”
Throughout the week, Rev. Sledge met United Methodists from Africa, Europe, the Philippines, and across the United States. The experience offered a glimpse into ministries and communities far beyond the familiar surroundings of home.
“I get to witness God doing incredible things through my local church in Harrisburg,” Rev. Sledge said. “But this week reminded me that God’s movement is so much bigger than what I experience in my own context. Across the world, United Methodists are doing beautiful, innovative, life-changing ministry.”
For Rev. Sledge, the gathering reinforced that the denomination’s greatest resource is not its buildings, budgets, or organizational structures, but its people–and the relationships that connect them.
“We call ourselves a connectional church,” Rev. Sledge said. “But connection is more than committees, agencies, conferences, and organizational charts. It’s people knowing, loving, learning, and trusting one another. And choosing to remain connected across our differences.”
Robyn Vernon, site director of Skye Farm Camp & Retreat Center in Upper New York, experienced that emphasis on connection firsthand.
Reflecting on the first day of the gathering, Vernon shared an image of Calgary’s Wonderland sculpture, which depicts a giant head with openings that visitors can walk through.
“I am inspired by this Wonderland sculpture, because the Leadership Gathering asked us today to wonder about the realities of where our church is,” mused Robyn. “...we will dream about where we are being called and how we vision a church yet to be.”
By the end of the week, Vernon had experienced the gathering as an opportunity to build relationships with United Methodists around the world and learn how their different contexts shape their understanding of the Church.
“This experience broke down walls and created a safe place to dream and wonder about what the UMC will look like in the future,” Robyn stated.
She also appreciated the willingness of participants to acknowledge difficult truths about the Church’s past and the importance of accountability. At the same time, she recognized that the gathering did not fully represent every group whose voices will be needed in shaping the denomination’s future.
Even with that unfinished work, she left encouraged.
“As we look to the future, this event gave me a renewed sense of excitement and joy for the UMC,” she said. “I look forward to stewarding and reigniting that joy and excitement in UNY and SUS!”
Discovering New Possibilities in Familiar Challenges
For Christina McDermott, kids ministries director at Carlisle UMC, one of the most meaningful aspects of the gathering was being surrounded by people who shared a passion for the denomination’s future.
“It was very empowering to be in a space with so many people that shared a passion for the future of the UMC,” said Christina. “You could feel the Holy Spirit at work from the beginning.”
Christina participated in a covenant group focused on stewardship through innovative discipleship. The group’s conversations highlighted both the opportunities for collaboration across the denomination and the challenges of serving a worldwide church with vastly different needs.
One example stood out in particular: while some congregations in the United States are wrestling with whether to consolidate churches or sell older buildings, growing congregations in parts of Africa need additional church buildings to accommodate more people.
The contrast prompted important questions about how United Methodists understand stewardship and share resources across the connection. What works in one setting may not work in another, and supporting the church’s mission requires listening to the people living and serving in each context.
Christina also carried home a powerful image shared by speaker Beth Ludlum, who compared the Church to a forest connected by a network of underground fungi that helps sustain the ecosystem.
“When a church falls, the network doesn’t die with it–in fact death creates the opportunity for new life,” Ludlum said.
For Christina, the metaphor offered a different way to think about congregations that have closed and the changes the denomination continues to experience. The loss of an individual church does not necessarily mean the end of the relationships, faith, or ministry that church helped cultivate. Those connections can become part of what makes new life possible.
Other speakers offered similarly hopeful perspectives, including the reminder that the Church’s mission is not simply about protecting what remains, but considering whom it can serve going forward.
The messages resonated with Christina, who sees opportunities for congregations to approach ministry differently, especially as they work to reach people beyond their walls and encourage the next generation of leaders.
Bringing the Hope Home
Although each representative experienced the gathering from a different perspective, all three returned with a shared conviction: the conversations in Calgary matter most when they lead to renewed commitment and action in local ministry.
For Christina, that means carrying the gathering’s ideas into conversations about how congregations collaborate, mentor young leaders, and rethink their approaches to mission and ministry.
“I know the gathering in Calgary was only the beginning,” McDermott said. “The real work starts now as we roll up our sleeves and figure out how we can think of mission and ministry differently as we reach out to those not in our churches, as we mentor and encourage young leaders, and as we collaborate with each other in ministry.”
Rev. Sledge is also looking toward the generations who will inherit the Church United Methodists are shaping today.
“The Church we are shaping today is not ultimately for us,” said Rev. Sledge. “It’s for my daughters. For their children. For generations of people we will never meet, whose names we will never know, and whose lives might one day be transformed by the love of Jesus through a United Methodist congregation.”
That long view, Rev. Sledge believes, calls United Methodists to build a Church that is more loving, courageous, inclusive, and deeply rooted in Jesus.
The gathering did not resolve every challenge racing the denomination. But for Rev. Sledge, Robyn, and Christina, it offered a reminder that the Church’s future is not determined solely by its struggles. It is also shaped by the faith, creativity, and relationships of the people who continue to show up and imagine what is possible.
“I love Jesus. I love The United Methodist Church. And I believe in our future!” Rev. Sledge exclaimed.
“The miracle isn’t simply that our Church has survived. The miracle is that, through it all, God is still calling us to something new.”
