On formation, and who this training is for

There is a conviction at the root of everything we teach: ministry is not something you do. It is someone you become.

Plenty of courses can inform you. Formation is different work. It happens slowly, in community, through experience and reflection, and it changes how you listen, how you relate, and what you are able to be present to. 

Our two-year Spiritual Development and Ministry Training is built for that deeper work. You will read, think, and be given frameworks, but the aim is always the person you are becoming rather than the information you are holding.

So who is it for? 

People arrive at OneSpirit from every direction. Some already know they are called to ministry: to conduct weddings and funerals, to offer chaplaincy in hospitals, hospices, and prisons, to accompany people through the thresholds of their lives. Others would not use the word ministry at all, at least not yet. They come because something in them is asking for more depth than everyday life has been offering, and they want serious inner work held in good company. Both are welcome here, and two years is long enough for each to discover how much of the other they contain.

Our students are adults of every age and background, most with full lives already: work, families, commitments that continue alongside the training. No prior experience or particular belief is required, simply a willingness to meet yourself and others with openness.

None of this happens alone. 

You will sit in circle with the same small group for two years, and something particular grows in that kind of sustained company: people who know your history by the third gateway, who notice when you are avoiding something before you do. Formation asks you to be known, not just to learn, and that only happens in relationship with others who are doing the same work alongside you.

Where does it lead? There is no single answer, and that is part of its beauty. For some, chaplaincy: sitting alongside people in their most significant and uncertain moments. For others, ceremony: weddings, funerals, and namings that honour each person’s story. Some go on to teach, facilitate, or offer spiritual accompaniment and retreats. And some carry their formation more quietly, weaving it into family life, existing work, and everyday relationships. This is ministry too, and it is deeply needed.

At the end of the two years, ordination is a choice rather than a requirement. For those who choose it, July 2028 brings two powerful ceremonies: vow taking, where you speak a personal commitment that reflects what you stand for, and ordination, where your journey is witnessed and you are welcomed into ministry. Those who complete the training as graduate alumni are equally honoured; completion is its own threshold, equally witnessed, equally celebrated.

The practical picture is designed for real lives. The Willow Pathway runs online, on Tuesday evenings, with around six to eight hours a week during teaching periods. The Sylvan Pathway gathers for three five-day residential retreats a year at Florence House on the Sussex coast. Monthly payment plans spread the fees across the two years, and full details sit in the prospectuses.

Applications for the Class of 2028 close at midnight on 30 September 2026. If you are still weighing it up, book an unhurried call with Maddy, our Programme Manager, and bring your questions and your hesitations; both are welcome. The training begins in October. The becoming began whenever you first felt the pull. What closes on 30 September is the door to this particular circle.