Serva Fidem coordinators Drew Croegaert and Peyton Jamison join the Catholic Morning Show to explain how a student-led small group ministry at Dowling Catholic High School grew from one group to roughly 84 in under a decade. They break down how students form their own groups with friends, how adult faith mentors walk with them week to week, and why so many mentors say they receive more than they give. Drew and Peyton also share what a decade of experience has taught them about meeting freshmen, seniors, and everyone in between exactly where they are.
Drew Croegaert and Peyton Jamison, Serva Fidem coordinators at Dowling Catholic High School, sit down with Bo Bonner to talk about small-group discipleship as a new school year begins. Serva Fidem lets students form their own groups with peers they already know, then pairs each group with an adult faith mentor who meets with them weekly at Dowling, offers formation content, and teaches spiritual practices students can carry with them. As Peyton puts it, the goal is students making the faith truly their own rather than something they simply inherit through school or family.
The ministry began at Dowling with a single small group in 2017. It has since grown to roughly 84 groups — a number Drew traces back to one group of students who said yes. Both coordinators come from education backgrounds, and this year they're applying the classroom idea of differentiation to ministry: how do you serve a student new to the faith, a student who's lukewarm, and a student ready for apostleship all at once? Part of the answer is better questions — pressing past the answers teenagers think adults want to hear, and asking why they believe what they believe.
Mentors are the engine of the whole thing. Drew and Peyton meet with every mentor three times a year, and they say that at some point in nearly every meeting a mentor admits they're getting more out of it than the students are. There's no one-size-fits-all mentor profile — some groups thrive with someone who has decades of life experience, others with someone closer to their own age. If you're considering it, contact information for both coordinators is available under the "Meet the Team" menu at ServaFidem.org; the usual next step is a simple coffee conversation.
Classes at Dowling started last Monday, and groups typically take shape through September and October, with the freshman retreat in September serving as a key entry point. Peyton is due with her first baby this Sunday and will be out roughly twelve weeks — so this fall will look a little different, and a lot busier come spring.
Learn more about Serva Fidem at ServaFidem.org or about Dowling Catholic at DowlingCatholic.org.
Heard on the Catholic Morning Show, weekdays at 7 a.m. Central on Iowa Catholic Radio. More at IowaCatholicRadio.com.
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