The Story Is Still Being Written – SAVE THE DATES NOV 6-7, 2026
By Cathie Ostapchuk
Last night, 20 women gathered on a screen from diverse places, backgrounds and leadership contexts.
Some lead in churches and ministries. Others lead in the marketplace, nonprofits or their own ventures. Some are building with fresh momentum. Others are standing in seasons of transition, listening carefully for what God may be inviting them to carry next.
Together, they became The Studio 2026–2027 cohort.
As their faces filled the screen, we all felt the significance of the moment. These were not simply 20 names on a participant list. Each woman arrived carrying a life, a calling, a history and a set of questions that cannot be answered by another leadership formula.
There was such expectancy in the room.
A different kind of leadership space
The Studio was created from a conviction that has shaped much of Gather Women’s work:
We have often taught women how to lead before we have taught them how to live.
Women have learned to carry responsibility, meet expectations, navigate systems and keep producing. Many have become extraordinarily capable. But capability alone cannot sustain a calling.
A woman needs a life that can carry what God has entrusted to her.
That is why The Studio is not simply about becoming a stronger leader. It is a formation journey - an invitation to become more deeply rooted in God, more honest about what we carry and more attentive to who we are becoming.
Over the coming months, these women will participate in coaching, teaching, reflection, courageous conversation and trusted community. They will explore identity, calling and leadership while learning to practise presence before performance, identity before assignment and character before platform.
They will not be asked to prove that they belong in the room.
They will be surrounded by a community that bears witness to who they are becoming.
The next decade is already here
As we celebrated the beginning of The Studio, I was reminded that this cohort represents something larger.
The next decade of Gather Women is not an abstract vision waiting somewhere in the future. We can already see it in the women who are responding to God with courage. We see it in women who are learning to lead without abandoning their souls. We see it in women who are building churches, businesses, organizations and communities in ways that create room for others to flourish.
The next decade is already arriving in the lives of women.
Our responsibility is to pay attention.
To behold.
Hold the dates
On November 6 and 7, 2026, Gather Women will gather in the GTA for BEHOLD: The Next Decade.
This will be a sacred pause to honour what God has done through Gather Women—and to behold the women, courage and calling He is gathering for the decade ahead.
Friday evening will be a beautifully crafted gathering of worship, story, gratitude and bold possibility. We will honour the story behind us, encounter God together and invest in what comes next.
Saturday morning, we will gather around The Gather Leadership Table.
This will be an intentional space for women who lead to name what they are carrying, discern what faithfulness requires and take their place in the next decade. It will not simply be another conference where women sit together and listen. We want every woman to know that she has been deliberately invited into a consequential conversation.
The movement of the weekend will take us from remembering to beholding, from gathering to carrying.
Because the story is still being written.
And perhaps God is already inviting each of us to look again, pay attention and recognize what He is making new.
BEHOLD: The Next Decade
November 6–7, 2026 | GTA
Friday evening: worship, story and vision.
Saturday morning: The Gather Leadership Table.
Please hold the dates. Full details are coming soon.
A life that can carry the calling