GOL Lay Leaders Marvin McLennon, Anny Stevens-Gleason, and Alisa Kelly at the Chicago Lay Leader Gathering

The Gathering of Leaders (GOL) invites lay leaders from across the church, volunteers or staff, to inquire to join our incredible network of creative, innovative, and hope-filled Episcopal leaders. If accepted, the first offering for an in-person Gathering is in Memphis April 28-30. There are limited spots, and we would love to meet you!

In 2022 GOL launched our Lay Leader Network at Bellwether Farm in Ohio. The original group of 30 has now grown to more than 70 passionate leaders across many contexts and church sizes in the United States and Europe, and we are poised to surpass 100 lay leaders in 2024.

GOL member, David Hoover, wrote of his experience at our Chicago Lay Leader Gathering in the spring of 2023, “I felt connected to a greater whole and empowered to fully live into my calling as a lay person…In the weeks since [the Gathering] I have thought a great deal about my charism as a trainer and facilitator…the definition of a charism is ‘an extraordinary power given a Christian by the Holy Spirit for the good of the church.’ What an incredibly strengthening thing it is to be in a room of Jesus followers who are seeking to understand their own incredible power.”

The Gathering of Leaders exists to resource, support, and grow a network of hoped-filled, proven and creative leaders.  We’ve dedicated almost two  decades to community formation, assuming the posture of an advocate and a companion, resulting in an organization dedicated to education and leader renewal through peer learning. We want to connect leaders to their own “incredible power” and to provide ways for the specific and valuable charisms of lay leaders to become catalysts for growth and change in the church.

Our 2024 Theme of Mission in the New Reality addresses many of the ways we are experiencing change: Recent years, including the Covid-19 pandemic and global and national events, have brought the church into new and often post-traumatic contexts for mission, ministry, and evangelism. How have these changes impacted the way you meet Jesus, proclaim the gospel, and form disciples in your context? What failures and successes have you learned from during times of acute change? What burdens must we lay down to make space for renewal, refreshment and hope for ourselves and for others? Where do you find – or offer – creativity, innovation, growth in the current moment, and for the future?

Interested lay leaders are invited to inquire to join us and attend our next Gathering in Memphis, Tennessee, April 28-30. We’re excited to answer these questions together.