Continuing our series ahead of the Leadership Gathering, Derrick sits down with Dr. Ashley Boggan to walk through the five covenant cohorts that will structure the gathering’s discernment work: discipleship, leadership, impact, stewardship, and accountability. These aren’t just familiar words, they’re an invitation to reimagine what each one means for the church that is yet to be. This conversation will help you get your head around the framework and start thinking alongside the laity, clergy, conference staff, agency leaders and bishops who will be in the room.

Show Notes

• 6:07 — Discipleship: beyond the comfortable and convenient
• 11:10 — Leadership: rethinking who gets to lead
• 18:15 — Impact: the footprint of the United Methodist Church
• 23:01 — Stewardship: more than a budget conversation
• 28:36 — Accountability: covenant, not compliance

Bar of the Conference is hosted by Derrick Scott III and produced by the team at Wesley's Revival, a ministry of Studio Wesley.

What does it mean to form disciples when the old pathways no longer work? How do we make real room for younger generations that is not just a seat at the table, but actual space to try, fail, and lead? And what happens when the church finally learns to listen to itself from every corner of the globe?

We continue our series: Imagining the Church Yet to Be as Derrick and Ashley are joined by Hilde Marie Gretz (Norway), Imke Sewing (Germany), and Ntube Beatrice Diffang (Cameroon) to explore the three lenses that will shape the work of the Leadership Gathering cohorts: innovative disciple formation, empowering younger generations, and amplifying global voices. We dive into the first two lens, and the entire conversation is a lesson in decentering the US perspective. The conversation is wide-ranging, and grounded.

Show Notes

• 8:48 — Faith like a renovated house
• 19:57 — What the church misses without young people
• 27:50 — When the youth plan for themselves
• 33:22 — Learning from the young people in Cameroon
• 39:04 — The need for "global" voices

Bar of the Conference is hosted by Derrick Scott III and produced by the team at Wesley's Revival, a ministry of Studio Wesley.

What happens when the church’s sacred practice of holy conferencing collides with the strictness of parliamentary procedure? In this episode of Bar of the Conference, guest host Dr. Ashley Boggan is joined by Dave Rombaoa from the Philippines and Christine Schneider from Switzerland to reimagine holy conferencing for 2026. Drawing on their experiences across different cultural contexts, the three explore how the United Methodist Church can move from a win-lose, for-or-against framework toward something more rooted in relationship, listening, and communal discernment. What does holy conversation look like and how do we make room for every voice in the room?

Bar of the Conference is hosted by Derrick Scott III and produced by the team at Wesley's Revival, a ministry of Studio Wesley.