In a church landscape that often talks about investing in the next generation without always following through, USPG's Emerging Leaders Academy stands out as a genuinely substantive commitment. Applications are now open for the 2026 cohort of this year-long formation programme, co-hosted with the Anglican Communion Youth Network, and the invitation is striking in its ambition: to equip young leaders from across the global Anglican Communion with the theological depth, cross-cultural understanding, and practical skills to lead differently in their own contexts.

The programme is not a short conference or a weekend retreat. It combines two preparatory online sessions, a two-week residential course running from 9 to 24 October 2026, six months of monthly online gatherings, and six months of one-to-one mentoring from an experienced church leader. The application deadline is 17 April 2026, and USPG asks participants to contribute between £100 and £500 on a sliding scale, with financial support available for those who need it.

What makes the ELA distinctive is its rootedness in the Anglican Communion's Five Marks of Mission and its deliberate engagement with decolonial and contextual theologies — perspectives that are often absent from Western leadership training programmes. Past participants have spoken of having their theology transformed through encounter with African and Asian readings of Scripture, and of leaving with a global faith community that continues to sustain them long after the residential ends.

The programme is open to ordinands, early-career clergy, and lay leaders at diocesan level or equivalent who are aged between 20 and 35 and already serving in a leadership capacity. For UK-based Anglicans with a heart for global mission, this is a rare opportunity to be formed alongside peers from across the world — and to return home with a richer, more generous vision of what the church can be.