Apply to Be a Peer Facilitator

NER is looking for nominations for new peer facilitators!

Please pass this on to anyone you think would be interested and good for this role. We will accept applications through Monday, December 15, 2025. We will review the applications and letters of recommendation the first week of January.

Ten years ago, New England Regional staff gathered leaders for the first peer facilitator training. These were local leaders, recommended by their ministers, who became available to congregations to facilitate board retreats, mission/vision conversations, and other facilitation needs. Sometimes someone from outside the congregation as facilitator really is best. And more, having someone who is a leader in another congregation, who is more of a “peer” is sometimes exactly right. These peer facilitators receive a modest stipend for each program they lead.

These folks not only served our congregations well, they also grew their own skills. NER staff provided training and support for each program run. Recently we gathered them together to reflect on their time. We heard many stories of how personally impactful being a peer facilitator was and how helpful it was to their local congregation when they had experienced other congregations this way.

Recognizing the value of this experience, we are 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. We also hope these new peer facilitators will help facilitate gatherings between congregations, not just within single congregations. We’re also bringing in past peer facilitators as mentors for the training and ongoing support.

The training will be on Saturday, February 7, 2026 from 10:00am to 3:00pm in Bedford MA. It will include how to prepare for and facilitate these events. We are putting the call out broadly as well as asking ministers and presidents who they recommend. There is a short application and a request for a congregational reference.

For those interested, we can promise you training, relationship building with other leaders who care, and chances to shadow regional staff and other peer facilitators. We can’t promise how many opportunities there will be for each peer facilitator to be paid for programs as that depends on the number of requests from congregations. But we are hopeful that as we build capacity our congregations will be interested.

If you have questions please direct them to our Developmental Regional Lead Rev. Evin Carvill Ziemer (Wufoo form).

If you or someone you know would like to apply to participate in the February 7 training, please do so via our peer facilitator training application (Google form).

Work with a Peer Facilitator

Interested in working with a peer facilitator? Please submit to our peer facilitator request form (Google).