SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT & MINISTRY TRAINING
The cherry tree pathway
Welcome to the Cherry Tree Pathway
A journey of spiritual deepening, inner growth, and compassionate service.
The Cherry Tree Pathway is more than training, it’s a soul-deep invitation to become who you are here to be. Over two years, you’ll grow your spiritual awareness, deepen your sense of service, and ultimately become ordained as an interfaith minister: someone who brings compassion, healing, and presence into the world, across all traditions and none. Whether you’re a spiritual seeker, a quiet contemplative, a curious questioner, or someone yearning for connection and depth, this pathway is here to meet you where you are.
Like the cherry tree that blooms in cycles, this training honours transformation, rootedness, and renewal. For almost 30 years, OneSpirit has guided people on a path of spiritual growth, compassionate presence, and soulful service.
Enrolment for our Cherry Tree Pathway is open until 30 September 2025.
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We’ve intentionally kept this page spacious, so you can breathe as you read. In some sections, you’ll see a gentle note inviting you to download our full information packet — offering more detail about what you’ll learn, how you’ll be supported, and the richness of the experience. Download the Cherry Tree Pathway Information Packet here.
FAQ: Is this for me if I don’t follow a specific religion?
Absolutely!
This training honours all traditions and none, meeting you exactly where you are.
You don’t need to belong to any particular religion to study at OneSpirit. Our interfaith approach welcomes people from all backgrounds, religious, spiritual, agnostic, secular, or questioning.
Interfaith doesn’t mean religious, it means creating space for everyone, equally and compassionately. We embrace a universal spirituality that respects all faiths and none. Our focus is on spiritual growth, compassionate service, and personal development, not on adhering to any one tradition.
WISDOM
Expand your understanding of the sacred, within yourself, others, and the world. Explore the rich tapestry of spiritual traditions and human experience, weaving them into your own authentic ministry.
GROWTH
Awaken to your deeper self. Transform how you relate to yourself, others, and the world, as you cultivate the resilience, compassion, and vision to serve with authenticity and grace.
COMMUNITY
Belong to a circle of seekers, healers, and changemakers, a living, breathing community grounded in connection, growth, and shared commitment to a more compassionate world.
The Heart of Your Journey
Our curriculum invites you to bring the fullness of your lived experience into the learning space, not as something to set aside, but as sacred material for growth. This training doesn’t ask you to leave the world behind; it asks you to meet it more deeply, with compassion, curiosity, and courage.
Through experiential exploration, personal reflection, and shared dialogue, you’ll begin to see the sacred in yourself, in others, and in the messy, beautiful world around you. You’ll learn to listen to difference, to honour your own voice, and to hold space for both transformation and complexity. The Cherry Tree Pathway is grounded in five key themes that quietly shape each year of your journey, helping you not only learn, but become.
FAQ: What does 'ministry' mean in this context?
Ministry at OneSpirit simply means serving from your heart. It might look like ceremonies, creativity, community work, chaplaincy, or simply being a calm, grounded presence in the world.
As one of our year-two students recently shared:
“Even my ideas of ministry have changed. You know, the world needs light, the world is in so much need of light and love and connection. Just spiritual connection and connection with each other, and that’s what this training is about.
However your ministry unfolds, this course will help you discover your own light and then give you the tools to bring that light into the world. And that is ministry.
Whether you’re getting paid for it or not, it doesn’t matter. People’s ministries evolve over time. If you’re feeling unsure or don’t have a clear idea yet, that’s okay.
You’ll find your way — and the training will support you to do that. Really, if you think of ministry as finding your light and bringing it to the world, then there is your ministry.”
DEEP EMPATHIC LISTENING
What does it truly mean to be present with another? You’ll explore how to meet others with stillness, presence, and compassion, not just to hear them, but to witness them. Rooted in the BACP framework and spiritual accompaniment, this invites you to listen with your whole being, and honour the voice within as well as the voice across from you.
LOVING RELATIONSHIP
Ministry is born in relationship. This theme explores how we come into authentic, loving connection, even across difference. Through principles like nonviolent communication, you’ll develop the tools to meet others with care, integrity, and empathy, building the trust and awareness needed for deep connection and healing.
BIRTH & DEATH CEREMONIES
Thresholds shape our lives. Here, you’ll engage with the sacredness of beginnings, endings, and all that lies between. Through studying life’s key transitions, and the ceremonies that honour them, you’ll begin to create meaningful rituals rooted in your own voice, and grounded in respect for many traditions.
STRUCTURES & GUIDES
Every journey benefits from a map, but not all maps look the same. This theme offers gentle frameworks to support your self-awareness, conflict navigation, and interfaith engagement. Drawing on models like Kilmann’s conflict resolution and Stendahl’s interfaith principles, you’ll explore new ways of understanding yourself and relating to others.
HONOURING SACRED JOURNEYS
Your ministry will be as unique as your story. This theme invites you to explore what sacred service means for you, not as a title, but as a way of being. You’ll reflect on your path to ordination, your expression of ministry, and how your presence can be a blessing in the world.
Becoming an Ordained Interfaith Minister
Ordination is not simply the end of this path, it’s a beginning.
After two years of deep personal development, spiritual exploration, and guided practice, you’ll be invited to step into ministry in a way that reflects your heart, your values, and your unique gifts. You’ll be ordained as an interfaith minister: someone who serves from love, listens deeply, and honours the sacred in all people, paths, and places.
“You come in curious… and leave feeling like you’ve come home — to yourself, and to a purpose that’s quietly been waiting for you all along.”
Ministry doesn’t always mean standing at the front of a room or leading a service. For some, it means creating beautiful, bespoke ceremonies or offering spiritual companionship. For others, it’s found in chaplaincy, coaching, community care, sacred activism, or creative expression. It may live in your art, your garden, your poetry, your parenting. It may evolve over time, as you do. Ordination with OneSpirit is about stepping more deeply into your own truth and service. After training, some students may go on to:
- Engage in chaplaincy or community care, offering presence in hospitals, prisons, hospices, universities, or social justice movements
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Offer spiritual accompaniment through one-to-one listening spaces, soul mentoring, or spiritual counselling
- Create ceremonies and rituals such as weddings, funerals, memorials, baby blessings, coming-of-age ceremonies, house blessings, and other life transitions
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Offer coaching or facilitation for individuals and groups seeking transformation, connection, and deeper purpose
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Express ministry creatively, through writing, storytelling, poetry, visual arts, music, dance, and nature-based practices
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Engage in sacred activism, working towards environmental justice, human rights, compassionate leadership, and building bridges across divides
And beyond this, the pathways are incredibly varied. Some students join us as experienced celebrants looking to deepen their practice. Others come with no clear destination in mind, just a longing for connection, authenticity, or meaning in a changing world. Still others arrive because they are unsettled by the state of the world, the division, the disconnection, and want to be part of creating something more healing, more human, more whole. For them, this training becomes a form of spiritual or social activism, a quiet revolution rooted in compassion…
Whatever brings you here, and whatever shape your ministry takes, you will leave with tools, community, and insight to make a difference, in your life, and in the lives you touch.
FAQ: Will I be automatically ordained as an interfaith minister?
Ordination is offered when you’re ready and have demonstrated the key skills and awareness required. It is a sacred invitation, not a box to tick. While many students choose to be ordained at the end of the programme, not everyone does — and that’s okay.
Some reach the end of their training and recognise that ordination as an interfaith minister isn’t the right path for them, and simply completing and graduating from the training is what feels most aligned. Just as each journey begins in a different place, it also ends in a different space.
Know that you can go into this training and come out an ordained interfaith minister, but take the pressure off and enjoy the journey as it comes.
How Your Journey Will Unfold
The Cherry Tree Pathway invites you into a living, breathing learning experience, one that meets you where you are, honours your individuality, and calls you into deeper connection with yourself, your community, and your evolving ministry. You’ll be held and supported through:
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Live weekly classes, where real-time interaction fosters authentic connection, shared discovery, and the weaving of a true learning community
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Personalised one-to-one support from your tutors, offering compassionate guidance as you integrate your growth into your life and ministry
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A bespoke online classroom that encourages reflective, creative engagement — not just absorbing knowledge, but embodying it
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Small group study and peer collaboration, nurturing mutual learning, trust, and shared transformation
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Optional in-person gatherings that create opportunities for embodied exploration, ritual, and deepening community
The heart of your learning will not be traditional lectures or memorised content, it will be found in experience, reflection, dialogue, and presence. Through your own preparation, curiosity, and courage, you will help shape the collective journey of your class. This is not just education; it is personal and communal transformation, a shared path toward becoming.
Prefer more detail? Download the Cherry Tree Pathway Information Packet here.
FAQ: What if I can’t attend a live session?
You can catch up by speaking with your tutor and reviewing any shared materials. While sessions aren’t recorded to honour presence and safety, your learning journey will be supported all the way through.
As one of our year-two Aspen students recently shared:
“The course material is always there. You can read the hub post right after the webinar or a week later, or revisit it again and again. How you engage is really up to you. I’ve found myself reflecting during walks, in the car, or even while making dinner. That’s part of the beauty of this work, it becomes part of your life. Some weeks I might spend just the three hours on the webinar and an hour with the hub post, others I’m writing poetry or journaling for hours, but it’s never expected of me. That space is mine to shape.”
The time you dedicate each week can vary. There is no rigid requirement beyond showing up for the core sessions, the rest flows with you!Â
Each gateway is supported by a creative, reflective assignment designed to deepen your understanding of yourself and your path. Our online classroom provides resources, prompts, and space for independent exploration, guided by your curiosity and lived experience.
At the heart of the training, we invite you to explore how you relate to others, and how you show up in the world. It’s not just about tools; it’s about becoming someone who can meet others with empathy, even in moments of tension or difference. We draw on different models, such as compassionate communicaton and nonviolent communication, to deepen our self reflection.
Your weekly live sessions, both in full group and small group settings, are the heartbeat of the training. These are not lectures, but rich, experiential gatherings where presence, participation, and shared growth unfold.
For each gateway, you’ll receive dedicated supervision from an accredited supervisor. These sessions offer a sacred space to pause, reflect, and listen inward, a powerful companion to your ministerial formation.
Our online classroom supports your independent learning with carefully curated resources each week. It’s a space for reflection, preparation, and quiet growth, gently guiding your journey alongside the live sessions.Â
The Shape of Your Journey
OneSpirit’s curriculum is dynamic and participatory. While there are key skills every future minister must develop, such as finding and voicing your authentic presence, deep listening, sacred witnessing, and ministering across diverse communities, how you explore and embody these skills is uniquely yours. Each class follows a strong, supportive framework, but the way the journey unfolds is co-created by the individuals within it. Your creativity, your questions, your passions, they all help shape the experience. Every student adds something new, something that can’t be taught, only discovered. You can expect:
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A strong framework covering essential ministerial skills (voicing presence, sacred listening, ceremony creation, working across traditions)
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A dynamic learning journey shaped by the energy and needs of each cohort
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Space for poetry, storytelling, silence, ritual, art, movement, nature connection, and deep inquiry
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A focus on experiential, creative, and embodied learning — not traditional lectures or exams
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An environment where accessibility and inclusion are woven into every aspect
We are deeply committed to making this training accessible for all learners. If you’re neurodivergent, use assistive tech like a screen reader, or need another kind of support, we’ll work with you to ensure the learning experience feels meaningful, manageable, and welcoming. Our online classroom is designed with good colour contrast, full alt text, and compatibility with screen readers and page-reading tools. Whether you learn best through movement, voice notes, creative expression, or classic writing, you are welcome here, just as you are. If you need support, just ask, we’re always open to finding the best way forward together.
Prefer more detail? Download the Cherry Tree Pathway Information Packet here.
FAQ: I struggle with traditional academics — will I be okay?
Yes. Many students have felt the same!
You can share your reflections in the format that works best for you, and our tutors will support you with care, and try to find a way that works best for you. We are also committed to accessibility and inclusion, our aim is to make sure this programme works for you, not the other way around.
Meet the Team Beside You
At OneSpirit, the learning space is held with warmth, deep listening, and lived experience. Our tutors don’t just teach… they accompany you, gently guiding your growth, challenging you with love, and holding space for the unfolding of your unique ministry. Each tutor brings their own wisdom, their own light, and together, they form a supportive, nurturing presence committed to your transformation.
Throughout your journey, you’ll experience the gift of learning in smaller circles as well. Group tutors work closely with Annie and your cohort, creating spaces of trust, reflection, and authentic connection, where true growth happens. You’ll also meet associate tutors and guest speakers, experienced ministers, facilitators, and changemakers, who bring fresh perspectives and deepen your exploration into what ministry can mean in today’s world.
Curious to learn more about the people holding this experience? Behind it all, OneSpirit is held by a small, closely knit remote team, working quietly across the UK to weave this community together. Meet our tutors, staff, and wider faculty — and explore the community behind the training — by clicking here.Â
FAQ: Will I have one consistent tutor throughout?
Yes, your main tutor will be with you throughout the training, supported by group tutors, guest tutors and guest speakers.
Annie is holding the Cherry Tree Pathway, just as she has held the Birch Pathway and the Aspen Pathway before it. She holds these courses with such care and love, and pours herself into each one. You’ll have the chance to work with Annie directly over the course of the two-year programme, which helps to make the experience more personal for you.
Alongside Annie, you’ll also be supported by a wider team who offer wisdom, encouragement, and care throughout your journey.
Annie is a writer, chaplain, and mural artist whose practice is grounded in interfaith wisdom, sacred ecology, and justice. Her presence is gentle, wise, and quietly transformative.
“Annie is steady, calm, open, knowledgeable, curious and loving… She foregrounds safety and welcomes in her facilitation in a way that invites bravery, accountability and community.” – Ben
“She is a great role model. I’ve never felt so safe before… What a gift!” – Hara
“My experience with Annie has been truly inspiring… I have much gratitude that’s our Core Tutor.” – Gina
Sarah is a creative soul and spiritual companion, known for her compassionate clarity and her ability to hold space with grounded grace.
“Sarah’s facilitation is with ease – gentle, soft, and flowing like the Dao.” – Carolyn
“An inspirational tutor… her knowledge of Qi Gong and Daoism encourages curiosity.” – Michael
“She connects us to nature and our bodies… gentle and loving in her approach.” – Jane
Monica brings her love of community, laughter, and spiritual depth into every space she holds. She has years of experience guiding people through transition, healing, and purpose.
“Monica is truly inspirational, it felt like I was getting a gift when I had my 1-1s with her.” – Rebecca
“She overspilled expectations with her natural spiritual wise and gentle approach.” – Maxine
“An extraordinary tutor with powerful creativity and deep connection.” – Jennifer
A Glimpse Into the Student Experience
No two students arrive in the same place in their journey, and that’s exactly as it should be. Some come with years of exploration behind them; others are stepping into something entirely new. Some feel rooted in a spiritual tradition; others have let old beliefs fall away and are searching for something more honest, more alive. Wherever you begin, what matters most is the journey that unfolds.
You’ll be welcomed into a living, breathing community where diversity of experience is celebrated, and where curiosity, courage, and authenticity are the only true prerequisites. Here, joy and challenge are companions. Growth is both tender and transformational. You’ll deepen your connection to your own truth and form lasting bonds with others who are learning, questioning, and becoming, just like you. There is no one right way to engage with this journey. There is only your way, and a community ready to meet you in it.
Curious to hear from our students? You’ll find inspiring video testimonials, honest interviews, and heartfelt quotes that offer a glimpse into what it’s really like to journey through the Cherry Tree Pathway. Explore their stories, experiences, and reflections, in their own words and voices — by clicking here.
FAQ: Do I need to already be in a certain place in my spiritual or personal journey to begin?
Not at all. Everyone arrives at a different point in their life, spiritually, personally, and professionally, and everyone arrives for a different reason.
You may be newly exploring spirituality, reconnecting after time away from faith, or simply drawn to inner and outer growth without identifying with any tradition. That is the beauty of ‘interfaith’.Â
There is no one right way to begin this training. Curiosity, openness, respect, and willingness are all you need.
Ben, Current Student
I’m based in Ireland. I love to be in ceremony, in nature, in stitches laughing… even all three at once if possible. I felt called to [the training]. I feel strongly that people from my intersecting communities deserve to feel welcome and connected and accompanied in exploring what faith can be for them.
I am autistic, trans, queer and highly creative, from an academic, scientifically-minded background, with my spiritual experiences woven through time spent in Buddhist, shamanic and mystical Christian traditions. The idea of Interfaith ministry really appealed to me as a way to help me figure out what an alternative ministry, that is open to learning and connecting with multiple faith paths and cultures, might look like.
Gina, Current Student
I am a curious open-minded seeker of what it is to be a human. It’s been an internal journey of self-inquiry to explore the many layers of complexities & parts to discover what is my ‘true authentic self’. With much of this curiosity surrounding that which cannot be seen, or fully explained.
Having undertaken a variety of spiritual training, together with a study of the psychological aspects of human development, I felt I wanted a platform from which they all could be somehow incorporated. On reading OneSpirit’s Core Beliefs this resonated with an opportunity for me to delve deeper into my questioning & bring all these fragmented strands of my learning into one cohesive whole.
Tony, Current Student
I am 59 years old and live on the Irish Coast. I have always enjoyed serving my community, and am involved in many volunteer roles. I have always tried to live a meaningful life filled with purpose and service. I keep myself very fit and play golf, squash, and run.
I enjoy connecting with other people, love playing music with friends and good food. [I have] a desire to serve my community in a deep and meaningful way.
Hara, Current Student
I am a shamanic sound healer, tutor for the College of Sound Healing and Transpersonal psychologist. I love to offer ceremonies for my community and run a weekly Sacred Healing Dance group. I feel more connection to Spirit, to the earth and our deepest soul selves is imperative to help our species protect the earth and to survive and thrive in the challenging times to come.
I decided to undertake this ministry training to widen my skills, expand my knowledge and experience and give me a better vehicle to serve the Divine and support people.
Claire, Current Student
I live in England with my dog Scooby where I work as a celebrant – mainly funerals – and I also have a holistic healing business offering Soul Plan readings, Soul Transformation Therapy, Reiki, and Qigong. I have one son and one grandson who I love spending as much time with as possible. I enjoy walking, reading, music and cricket!
I am a student of A Course in Miracles and part of Robert & Hollie Holden’s Everyday Miracles group. Hollie mentioned the course a year or so ago and I felt called to investigate further! After attending the online introductory meetings I decided it would not only benefit my work as a celebrant but also (and probably more importantly) my own ‘journey’.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
Notice how we said the next step — not the first. That’s because if you’re reading this, you’ve already taken the first step. The next step is about feeling into whether this training is right for you, where you are now, and where you feel called to go.
You don’t need to know exactly what you want yet. You don’t need to have a list of questions ready. All you need to know is that if there’s a tug in your heart, trust it, and let’s figure it out together. Wherever your next step leads, know that you’re not going at it alone. We’re here, ready to meet you exactly where you are.
Click Here to Apply
If you already feel that quiet “yes” within you, we welcome you to apply. Your application isn’t a test, it’s a doorway. It’s the start of a conversation about who you are, where you are, and where you’re called to grow.
Click here to apply and take the next step toward a ministry that is as unique and expansive as you are.
Open the Info Packet
Still feeling it out? That’s perfect. Our detailed information packet offers a deeper glimpse into the heart of the Cherry Tree Pathway, the kind of journey it invites, the way it might change you, and the community that will hold you.
Click here to download the packet and explore all the richness we couldn’t quite fit on this page.
Join an Intro Day
Sometimes you need to feel it for yourself. Our Intro Days are relaxed, welcoming spaces where you can meet our tutors, hear from current students, ask questions, and get a sense of whether this community feels like home.
Click here to join us in a space where there is no pressure, only love, and an open door.