Summer is the time for ecclesial gatherings. Between June and September, dozens of denominations representing millions of churchgoers will gather for fellowship, teaching, and conducting business.
Here are some of the decisions CT is keeping an eye on this summer:
Anglican Church of North America
The ACNA will hold a Provincial Council June 15–19, in Tulsa. One item on its agenda: enacting changes regarding discipline and matters of misconduct. The proposed revisions to Title IV of the ACNA Constitution and Canons would expand that portion of the church law from 11 pages to 48. The revisions aim to provide greater transparency and clarify the investigation process, make it easier to submit a complaint against a bishop, and introduce processes so that not every complaint becomes an investigation.
Amendments to church law, called “canons,” are approved by the annual Provincial Council in June but do not take effect until they are ratified by the Provincial Assembly, which typically meets every five years.
To make sure these disciplinary reforms can be implemented immediately, the bishops have called for a Provincial Assembly to meet virtually on June 25, one week after the scheduled Provincial Council, to ratify the changes. The ACNA recently acquitted a bishop of misconduct after he neglected to inform congregations that a lay leader in his diocese was accused of molesting a 9-year-old child. The ACNA’s archbishop Steve Wood is also accused of sexual harassment, bullying, and plagiarism and faces an ecclesiastical trial.
Christian Reformed Church
Synod 2026, the annual general assembly of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, will meet June 12–18 on the campus of Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Last year’s synod requested that leaders develop and present a 10-year plan for church planting and revitalization.
Calvin University’s board of trustees will also report to the 2026 synod on how it defines the indefinite exceptions it will grant to professors whose views are not in line with CRC teaching. In 2024, the CRC declared that church leaders, including professors at CRC-affiliated schools, must actively work to resolve their differences and cannot hold their gravamens—significant doctrinal differences with church teaching—indefinitely.
Global Methodist Church
The GMC recently announced that the new denomination, founded in 2022, has surpassed 7,000 churches globally. Its annual gathering will take place August 30–September 5 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The conservative Methodist denomination formed after its churches dissented from the United Methodist Church over LGBTQ-related issues. Conservative congregations also sought a Wesleyan denomination with lighter, leaner infrastructure and an emphasis on grassroots accountability and ministry connections.
Since its inaugural gathering in 2024, interim bishops have led the GMC. One item on the docket for its 2026 general conference will be electing the denomination’s first full-time bishops. The new eight episcopal bishops will govern the denomination’s 50 annual conferences (regional bodies) around the world.
A spokesperson for the GMC said the denomination will also establish clergy ordination standards that hold clergy to a high bar while allowing flexibility for global regions with less access to theological education.
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
In 2019, the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod commissioned a task force to study issues of sexual orientation and gender identity. The group is ready to report its findings and recommendations: The Created Male and Female Task Force will present at the LCMS convention, which is held every three years. The 2026 gathering is July 18–23 in Phoenix.
Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention is preparing for its annual meeting, taking place June 9–10 in Orlando, Florida. Josh Powell, senior pastor of Taylors First Baptist Church in Taylors, South Carolina, is set to be nominated to serve as the SBC’s next president.
Powell might not be the only presidential nominee. Tampa-area pastor Willy Rice has announced his intention to seek the role too. In 2025, Rice offered a motion at the convention’s annual meeting to abolish the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, a public policy organization that advocates for SBC worldviews in the public square. Some politically conservative Southern Baptists oppose the ERLC’s existence, taking issue with its past legal arguments in favor of religious liberty for all faiths rather than just in support of policies favoring Christianity.
The ERLC is currently led by interim president Gary Hollingsworth, after Brent Leatherwood stepped down from the role in July 2025, but the trustees recently announced they have trimmed their list of candidates to eight, with the goal of bringing a nominee to the annual meeting. They also recently published the group’s three commitments. “It is our sincere hope that as the ERLC endeavors to rebuild trust and relationships with churches, our equipping and advocacy ministries will bear eternal Gospel fruit,” the trustees said in a statement.
Here are some other denominations that will meet this summer:
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
