A new congregation was launched at Reform Judaism’s annual dinner with the announcement of the merger of the Shir Hayim Community in West Hampstead and the Willesden Minyan.

Lauretta Dives of Shir Hayim told the 200 dinner guests at the London Marriott Regents Park that the congregation had received invaluable support from the movement during a period of transition.

“Our little community was faced with an ageing and shrinking membership [of around 100]. We were simply not sustainable.

“We needed to revitalise or close the doors. Luckily nearby, the Willesden Minyan, which engages with more than 120 people, almost all under the age of 40, started meeting but with no formal structure, or regular meeting place. Proper wandering Jews! With the leadership and great support of Reform Judaism, we started a sort of courtship with the minyan, led now by Rabbi Daniel Lichman. We’re creating our mission, vision, values and a new name.”

The name has yet to be decided but the groups have been holding joint activities, building up a relationship over the past two years.

In a deeply personal address, guest speaker Robert Rinder said that after a period of spiritual homelessness, “I’ve found my spiritual home in Reform Judaism”. It was forward looking, “with a message about the intellectual foundations of Judaism being open and available for everyone.

“A message that said to me ‘yes you can’ and was totally unconcerned with ‘no you cannot’.”

Reform Judaism showed “what Judaism can be when it seeks to be its very best”.

The dinner also saw the launch of Essentials of Reform Judaism, a new curriculum for conversion programmes.

Previously, each synagogue has run its own programme. But it was felt necessary to have a centralised resource that communities can either apply or adapt. Those piloting the scheme included long-time educators and new rabbis teaching conversion for the first time.

Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers, Reform’s community educator, told the dinner that the movement was “incredibly proud” of the scheme, which offered “high quality resources and reading for our students, arming them with the tools they will need to begin their Jewish journey and encourage them in their continued learning beyond”.

Reform senior rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner said the dinner “was much more than a fundraising event. It was a celebration of our values and the partnerships which make our communities so dynamic, engaging and inclusive. I am immensely proud of them and our holy work.”