Last week I spent two hours on Zoom with a Global Methodist Church deacon who serves children’s ministry leaders across the Allegheny West Annual Conference. (This Georgia girl learned that Allegheny West includes Ohio and western Pennsylvania!)

What encouraged me most wasn’t my geography lesson—it was discovering that leaders across the country are asking the same question: What does it look like to raise up children and students as Global Methodists?

The Global Methodist Church celebrated its fourth birthday on May 1. While we’re a new denomination, we’re deeply rooted in a rich Methodist heritage shaped by John and Charles Wesley and their mother, Susanna. Their passion for Scripture, holy living, discipleship, and serving others remains the foundation of who we are today.

As of last February 2026, the Global Methodist Church includes nearly 7,000 congregations around the world. That’s exciting growth—but with growth comes opportunity.

How do we intentionally form the next generation? What distinctives should children, students, parents, and ministry leaders experience in a Global Methodist church?

Those questions led Allison Vandenbergh, a gifted children’s ministry leader in South Georgia, my ministry partner who is an incredible teacher, Robin Glover, and me to design the first R3 Gathering following last fall’s New Room Conference.

Together we explored three important conversations:

Roots – What are the Wesleyan roots that are clearly set to be pillars in GMC Christian education? 

Ruts – What has the GMC leadership already set in place to define, resource and prioritize organizationally?

Rhythms – How can we implement these distinctives in a developmentally appropriate way to equip local church, mission, and family leaders as active and faithful members of the Global Methodist Church?

For many churches, very little changed from the Sunday before they joined the Global Methodist Church to the Sunday after. Sunday School still met. Vacation Bible School still happened. Families still gathered around dinner tables. Children still memorized Scripture and learned about Jesus. Local and international missions experiences were still planned.

But now we have the opportunity—and the responsibility—to intentionally shape what it means to grow up as a Global Methodist.

It’s time to set the table for Global Methodist littles with their bigs.

“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” Ephesians 4:14