Announcing our New Director of Lifespan Religious Education

Empower, Connect, and Inspire. These are the words that sum up the philosophy of religious education for Tim Atkins, the new Director of Lifespan Religious Education recently selected by Cedar Lane’s DLRE Search Committee and unanimously approved by the Board of Trustees.

For the last four years, Tim has served as the full-time Director of Religious Education at the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship in northern N.J. Morristown is a mid-size congregation with 350 members, and 100 children and youth.

During his time at Morristown, Tim has racked up a long list of accomplishments, many of which caught the Search Committee’s attention as desired outcomes for Cedar Lane. Among his highlights at Morristown, Tim:

• doubled RE attendance;
• conducted a Visioning process for children’s and youth programming;
• led monthly children’s chapels - and collaborated on multigenerational worship and Time for All Ages services;
• selected, curated, and created RE curricula -- including Tapestry of Faith;
• launched and coordinated a Young Adult group and an Emerging Adult group;
• started a new structure for connecting RE with social justice;
• created targeted weekly emails for parents and teachers; and
• provided pastoral support for children, youth and families.

Tim has served on the UUA Board of Trustees since 2015, and he was elected Financial Secretary at GA last month.