• 

• 

In October we held our annual NUA AGM Weekend in Stockton. The NUA is comprised of Newcastle Unitarians and Stockton Unitarians. With only two of us in the district, it must be one of the smallest districts in terms of number of congregations, but the area we cover is fairly enormous. There used to be a lot more Unitarian churches and chapels in the North East, but now there is only two. The NUA exists to bind together the congregations in the North East and to be there to administer the charitable funds held when churches unfortunately disband. The NUA Weekend gives us the opportunity to come together as a district, to worship together, enjoy shared workshops and to catch up with our friends in the partner congregations.

This year we were joined by Rev. Sue Woolley, the Vice-President of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches. After our AGM was concluded, Sue led us in an interactive workshop where we used coloured pens and pencils to draw a tree of faith, a tree that mapped out our faith journey, from the roots of our belief to the fruits and leaves that have grown out of our faith. We included the buds of ideas that were just beginning to form in our minds and the dead leaves of old beliefs that we had cast off over the years.

On the Sunday we all joined in shared worship over Zoom, as Rev. Sue Wooley conducted a service from Stockton on similar lines to the workshop we had enjoyed. I am a terrible drawer, so I chose just to write a list of things that are connected to my faith in rainbow colours! I think everyone else did actually attempt to draw a tree. Some were quite brilliant works of art. The workshop was excellent because Sue asked questions of us that I had never articulated in my own mind about the shape, the roots, the trunk and leaves of my faith. What would you draw on your tree to represent your faith journey?

Ben MacLeod, President of the Northern Unitarian Association.