by Lenore Bajare-Dukes

What does a wall of nametags, a declining leadership roster, and a UU board meeting have in common?

This is not the beginning of a joke about religious professionals walking into a bar. It’s a few of the stories that were shared during the third annual Religious Education (RE) Kickoff, hosted in a collaboration between the UUA’s regions and the UUA’s Lifespan Faith Engagement office, around this year’s theme of “New Ways of Being Together in Congregations.”

Out of all the topics we could have chosen to kick off 2026, we chose “new ways of being together” because over hundreds of conversations with leaders, we have heard over and over again that UU communities are choosing to turn their attention toward the ways in which they gather – and it’s creating vitality and connection.

People who come to our congregations are often seeking community. Not just any community: communities of genuine, welcoming connection. Communities of care. Communities of purpose, that help us lead meaningful lives, even when that feels hard and bewildering and at odds with what’s happening in the wider world. Communities that help us hold fast to our commitments, even when that gets tough; and which offer tangible ways to live faithfully to our values, in times that test them.

And, at a time when people have many competing ways of spending their time, more and more people are recognizing that how they are going about doing the work of church should, in itself, feel purposeful. Welcoming. Caring, connective, and in line with our values.

We know from decades of working with congregations that the quality of connection and community that people find has an enormous impact on every other measurement of congregational vitality. How a community feels matters to how long members and staff stay around, to the diversity of identities and life experiences represented among membership, to RE participation, to stewardship and giving…even to the impact of justice work. And yet, sometimes it gets overlooked, or assigned to one or two teams, or left to the people who are especially skilled at it.

Now, we are finding that more and more congregations are recognizing the importance of putting the quality of community and connection at the center of what they do. And so, at the RE Kickoff, we spotlighted many of the resources the UUA has created in the past year to support these “new ways of being together.”

Here are two of these new ways of being together, each with a few resources that can help you do this work, too.

Read the rest of the blog and access the resources on our CER Website.

The following events sponsored by CER and the UUA are upcoming. For full details and a complete list visit the CER Calendar Page. Also, please note, if you are mailing a check to pay for your registration, you must write the name and date of the event in the memo line. Otherwise we may not get it properly credited.

If your congregation or cluster has an exciting project that could use funding from our Chalice Lighter Program, our next Intent to Apply deadline is December 1 for grants to be awarded in February 2026.

If you are interested in either of these positions or have questions please reach out to cer@uua.org and we’ll connect you with the correct folks.

Pittsburgh UU Cluster Assembly ~ November 14, 2026, 8:30a-3:30p, Pittsburgh and online. This year’s theme is United Together Toward Generosity. You do not need to be a member of a cluster congregation to attend.

Presidents’ Gatherings

For current congregational Presidents, Presidents-Elect, Vice Presidents, and immediate Past Presidents to create a community of learning and collaboration with each other and with Central East Region Staff. Meets on the 3rd Tuesday of each month between September and May, from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm Eastern Time. Register today!

Ministers’ Gatherings are a virtual space for Ministers serving, or affiliated with, congregations in the Central East Region. Meets on the first Wednesday of each month from September 2nd through April 7th from 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm Eastern Time. Details and registration.

Your CER Staff want to remind our congregations that updating your leadership information with the UUA, including email addresses, is the best way to ensure your staff, board members, and committee chairs are up-to-date in our database. Doing so means when our staff reach out, we know we’re contacting the correct folks. It also helps us make sure these folks are receiving our newsletter, are added to role based email lists, including the president’s list, and can receive other targeted mailings throughout the year. Please do this through the UUA’s my.uua.org interface (where you update UU World lists). Details are on the UUA website.

New REP (Religious Education Professional) Pathway
Are you a new Religious Education Professional searching for an onboarding pathway? You’ve come to the right place! The UUA’s Lifespan Faith Engagement office and your professional organization, LREDA, offer a map to guide you through the 2026-2027 congregational year. Learn about the New REP Pathway.

This three-part series will cover child and youth safety standards and protocols, using real-life scenarios to deepen our exploration of how to best equip our congregations to create spaces where our young people can thrive.

There will be approximately 90 minutes of required pre-work (including a 50-minute video and online resources to explore), then each session will dive deep into a different topic.

Sessions will be facilitated by members of the Congregational Life and Lifespan Faith Engagement teams at the UUA. The target audience for this series is religious professionals and lay leaders with extensive child and youth interaction. Register today.

October 6, 2026, 7-8:30 PM Eastern

Are you a member of a smaller congregation and curious about how to search for and hire a minister? Are you looking for a part-time minister? If you’re wondering where to start, please join us for (Sm)All Things Search: Preparing for Ministerial Search as a Smaller Congregation. This panel, featuring Congregational Transitions Director Christine Purcell and Congregational Staffing Practices Director Jan Gartner, will include information about the Ministry Search System, timelines for different types of search, logistics of hiring ministers as employees, and time for questions. This panel is hosted by the Smaller Congregations cross-regional team and will be recorded. For more information and registration details please visit our calendar webpage.

Congregational Leaders Conversations

Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 7:30-9pm ET

Congregational Leaders Conversations continue this fall with a session on growth — real, on-the-ground growth. We’re bringing together leaders from five congregations that are among the 10 fastest-growing UU communities since 2019: large and midsize, urban and suburban, each finding vitality in a different context. This isn’t a “the minister did it” story — it’s a “we did this together” story. Come hear how lay and professional leadership work as partners to build vital, growing congregations. Register today to join the conversation.

Do you have questions about what makes a pledge drive effective today? Join us for a three-session webinar designed for stewardship teams engaged in a spring pledge drive. We will explore current congregational giving trends, pledge drive practices that are working, and examples of real UU congregations who have experienced pledge drive successes. Congregations must register as teams, with 3 – 4 people per congregational team. Learn more and register.

Treasurer Roundtables
Join the Treasurer Roundtables meetings, now open to any UU Treasurer (all regions, Canada, everywhere)! Every third Thursday of the month from 4pm-5pm Eastern Time folks will gather to learn and discuss finance and budget related topics. Facilitated by: Sam K Pearl (they/them), Pacific West Region Congregational Life Staff. October’s roundtable theme is Staffing Capacity, co-facilitated by Jan Gartner (she/her), Congregational Life – Congregational Staffing Practices Director. Topic is Congregations as Employers. Next Roundtable: Thursday October 15 , 2026, Note, you only need to register once to attend all events in this series. Register for the monthly meeting and learn more by clicking here.

In concert with a local host the UUA brings you the annual Building Beloved Community Beyond the Binary Conference! Saturday April 24th. A conference where transgender people, allies, advocates, and accomplices can bravely (and with more safety than usual) explore, learn and grow, bear witness, and be witnessed.

Curious about hosting the Building Beloved Community Beyond the Binary conference (BBCBB) in person? We encourage you to attend the info session on hosting this conference locally. Happening on Tuesday Nov. 17 from 6pm-7pm CT/ 7pm-8pm ET and Thursday, Nov. 19 from 6pm-7pm PT/ 7pm-8pm MT. In this info session, congregations will learn the how, when, where, and all the details of being a satellite congregation for the BBCBB. Both sessions will cover the same content, so please attend the session that works best for you. Learn more about being a host site and register here.

Highlights from the October Side with Love Calendar

Need a resource about what you can and cannot say during the election? Read Prophetic, not Partisan: IRS Rules for Non-Profits from UU the Vote.

Tending SOIL: Leadership Program for Congregational Justice Teams Info Session, November 15, 6-7 pm ET.

Tending SOIL is Side with Love’s leadership program for Unitarian Universalists doing justice and organizing work in their congregations who want to work with others to more faithfully and strategically engage in the transformation of the world through liberating Love. Details about the program on the Side with Love website. Applications are due November 20th, 2026. The program runs January – August 2027. Register for the Info Session.

Find other trainings, gatherings and opportunities on a variety of topics including Get Out The Vote, phone banks and solidarity meetings, and Green Sanctuary on the Side with Love calendar.

If your congregation has investments in the UU Common Endowment Fund and you have questions or want to know more about what is happening, you can join their quarterly calls on December 1 from 2-3 pm ET. Registration is open.  Learn more about their work at UUCEF’s website.

A monthly online spiritual community for trans, nonbinary, intersex and Two-spirit people – and their families. A place to be held, celebrated and nourished. With community groups for different ages and stages. Learn more and register.

A retreat for trans, nonbinary, Two-Spirit, intersex, and gender-diverse UU religious professionals, October 12-16, 2026, Provincetown, MA. Registration is open!

The Summer Institute Planning Committee is pleased to announce that 2027 Summer Institute will be July 11-17, 2027 at Oberlin College, OH with Rev. Manish Mishra-Marzetti as the theme speaker.

If you have an idea for a morning seminar or afternoon workshop please submit a proposal by October 31, 2026. For details on what these entail, visit the CERSI website.

Visit the website of the camps in our region to learn more about their programs:

Quick Links

Find Your Regional Contact ~ CER Website ~ UU Institute ~ UUA Job Board

Submit a Job to Be Posted ~ Chalice Lighters ~ Neighboring Congregations ~ Guest In Your Pulpit

Disaster Relief Fund ~ Stewardship For Us Blog ~ InSpirit UUA Bookstore