Constellated Ministry for the Pagan Spiritual Landscape
Holli S. Emore [+–]
Cherry Hill Seminary
Holli S. Emore, M.Div., is Executive Director of Cherry Hill Seminary, and also President of Emore Development Resources consulting firm for nonprofits. Committed to building interfaith relationships, both locally and globally, Holli has served on the Board of Directors of Interfaith Partners of South Carolina since 2012. She often teaches public groups about the rapidly-growing Pagan religions, has served as a regional resource for law enforcement, victim services, criminal justice classes and others since 2004, and is a resource person for the Lady Liberty League. Holli is the founder and priestess of Temple Osireion, a Pagan tradition which draws its inspiration from the religions of ancient Egypt. She founded and coordinated the Pagan Round Table, and is a co-host of the monthly Midlands Interfaith Meetup, both in South Carolina. Since 2017 Holli has served as South Carolina Regional Lead for Disaster Spiritual Care for the American Red Cross. Holli is an experienced presenter, frequently appearing as a guest speaker, panelist, and occasional supply preacher.
Pagan traditions are the fastest-growing religious group in America, or so it has often been said since British witchcraft arrived in the late 1950s. Numbers are tricky to come by, but we know that contemporary Pagans report themselves as living in every American state, and in countries around the world. Historian Ronald Hutton is fond of pointing out that witchcraft is the one new religion that England has produced and shared globally.
This volume reviews the shifting landscape of current Pagan spirituality, the unique culture and needs which must be understood in order to engage with contemporary Pagans, and the implications for future leadership, including organizational models, training and educational needs. The author has interviewed Pagan leaders about their own experiences and looks at data from the Pagan Engagement and Spiritual Support survey of 2016 to answer questions such as What does “ministry” mean for Pagans? Who do Pagans turn to for spiritual support? Who ought to be providing that support? Do Pagans want leaders who are trained for ministry? What kind of training do they need, and how do they get it?
Part I reviews some history about how we got here, description of spiritual communities and Pagan characteristics, and a theory of constellated ministry. Part II talks to the people who have been ministering to and leading their communities for decades, relating their experiences to our new model. Part III contains recommendations, tools and ideas for offering effective Pagan ministry. Because some key terminology is often contested by Pagans, a short glossary clarifies some of this book’s vocabulary.
If you are a Pagan who wishes to support others in these ways, you will find here a framework for your own work, including stories and examples. If you are an interfaith minister, a chaplain, or a spiritual leader who finds that Pagans are intersecting with your work, you will become acquainted with the culture of this old-but-new spirituality. If you are an educator, may you find Constellated Ministry useful in teaching seminarians and students of religious studies.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Describes the dramatic changes seen in religious affiliations and practice in recent decades: the decline in affiliations; changes in perceived differences between being religious and being spiritual; changed and multiple religious identities; small group and communities of practice movements; increase in professional chaplaincies serving the religiously-unaffiliated.
Chapter 2
Origin of contemporary Paganism as a new religious movement identity and practice; how Pagans define themselves; Pagan commonalities; Pagan culture and idiosyncratic spiritual support needs.
Chapter 3
A New Ministry Model [+–]
Identifies past assumptions about clergy and ministry; the difficulties facing all religious groups and ministers, many of them traceable to the societal changes noted in Chapter 1; globalism is a force for interconnectedness, an idea Pagans embrace; forces impacting group coalescence; reconfiguring Pagan ministry from place to function; constellated ministry paradigm.
Chapter 4
Brief case studies and examples drawn from interviews of longtime Pagan Leaders in several countries, showing how their successes resemble constellated ministry, or how their challenges may have been better met with it.
Chapter 5
Competencies self-assessment for groups, for leaders; detailed education and training needs, with suggestions for strengthening a group through training; importance of allies and how to build community engagement and interfaith connections; developing habits of constant adaptation to ongoing change; creating leadership constellations; expanding referral-resource networks; facing fundraising.
Chapter 6
A vision for the future with constellations of smoothly-functioning Pagan networks which nurture and support the spirituality of new generations of Pagans.
