Joins men in a new sect (7)
I believe the answer is:
cements
'joins' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with contact as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'men in a new sect' is the wordplay.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'a new' indicates anagramming the letters.
'sect' anagrammed gives 'cets'.
'men' put inside 'cets' is 'CEMENTS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for cements that I've seen is " Makes concrete".)