The New England Assembly of the Laity (NEAL) is a yearly spiritual enrichment event; at the present a ministry function of the Board of Laity of the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church. It has, since its inception in 1952, been equipping Laity, throughout the New England area, for ministry, while, at the same time providing a unique focal point for spiritual and relational growth in their lives. In many ways, it is an “open house” for the workings of the Holy Spirit and many lives have been changed over the years. One incident of note involved a young teenage girl who had come to the Assembly with the expressed intention of debunking the notion that the love of Christ was alive and well in the community of faith. At the end of her Assembly ‘experience, she was observed witnessing to the healing power of that love to another youth who desperately needed it! But that is just one example of many.

  The Assembly was initiated by Bishop John Wesley Lord as a men’s gathering in 1952 and was expanded to include women and youth in 1969. The ‘heartbeat’ of the Assembly experience is the small sharing group (nominally 8-10 persons) who share, with each other, personal observations and experiences relating to the theme of the particular Assembly session. Through this sharing, personal growth is enabled and a sense of Christian community and friendship achieved, which have a lasting effect on the participants and ‘energize’ them for ministry in their local settings. Although the Assembly is grounded in United Methodism and is a Laity function, it is not exclusive of Clergy or Laity from other denominations.

  Since 1990, the Assembly had been meeting at Merrimack College, a small Roman Catholic school in North Andover, Massachusetts; which had opened the arms of  Christian hospitality to us in many ways. 

   In 2009, we opened ourselves to the spirit's call and relocated the weekend to The Marist House in Framingham, Massachusetts.