If you find yourselves asking, “who will do all this work?” we joyfully share a way one congregation recently re-centered in giftedness.

Last June Rev. Emily Bruce and Rev. Susan Chorley reached out to us on NER staff to ask what kind of gathering we could help them have with their neighboring congregations to work on building relationships, collaborating, and supporting each other.

Over the summer, I sent out a brief two-question survey to get a snapshot of youth safety policies and youth participation on congregational boards across the region. I want to share what I learned from the responses.

This deep knowing is at the heart of religious community. The word religion comes from Latin roots that mean, to bind together. We are bound together by covenant; by our shared values; by our love for one another, and our willingness to disagree without disconnecting.

This world is full of all the things - the beauty, the horror, the promise, the pain, the long stretch of forever, and the tiny instant of time we are given to experience it all. Where will our help materialize?

NER is opening a new cohort of peer facilitators. We hope that this opens the opportunity for more people to have this experience and that we have new energy available to our congregations for such facilitation.

How do we navigate, together, in an uncertain direction? By Love. My certainty stems from my faith in our Universalist heritage that affirms there is no being outside of the transcendent force of Love.

It is an act of faith, to insist on Joy, and always entails some level of risk. Just as the crocus pushing through mud risks an April snowfall, we are also part of the nature of things that rise up from the muck over and over again, season after season.

In the Fall of 2024 Jennica Davis-Hockett sent a survey to New England Region congregations as a means for starting a conversation about the ways youth and emerging adults are engaging in our congregations....

How will we commit to be with one another - in times of ease as well as times of anguish? What promises are we called to make to our congregational community? How will we act in alignment with our highest values? How does our shared covenant hold us in times of conflict, harm, and repair?

What are your coping mechanisms in this time? Which ones serve you best? In all things, how can we reduce harm to our bodies, minds and spirits? What are you willing to do to strengthen your empathy? What sacrifices are you willing to make to be of better service to others?

In some quiet moments I’ve reflected on this journey from coveting, to claiming, to interpreting, integrating, and embodying. In my actions and choices, this is what I aim to do, what I feel my faith calling me to do: to Love Justice, to Seek Mercy, and to Go.

Let us not lay waste our power now. Remember who we are. Remember whose we are. Remember who we intend to be.

Mid-October is shifting seasons and losing light and hurtling toward the end of the year - only three more months to achieve those New Year’s resolutions, friends!

Support for youth and emerging adult ministry (14-24ish years of age) from the UUA is evolving! The office of Lifespan Faith Engagement now has regional youth and emerging adult ministry staffers and an events coordinator who are charged with providing equitably accessible support for YEA ministry.

It’s September - time to welcome back our UU congregations returning for the 2024-2025 church year. Of course, not all of our congregations are on the agrarian / academic calendar, and whether we are returning to a brand new church year this month, or rolling into it from a busy summer of...

As Unitarian Universalists recently affirmed seven Shared Values that define our faith, this series explored each one, using a podcast episode from a diverse list of pods as the "text" to generate thought, discussion and learning together.

As Unitarian Universalists recently affirmed seven Shared Values that define our faith, this series explored each one, using a podcast episode from a diverse list of pods as the "text" to generate thought, discussion, and learning together.

This church year, a small group of leaders and religious professionals from New England congregations gathered together as the Contexts Learning Community. We had a shared interest in exploring more deeply what is happening to church attendance and participation, especially amongst younger people...

Design and lead your own retreat with some help from us.