There are many of us who have really found our way to Jesus through service. Whether it was through helping our on a retreat, leading discussion groups, giving talks, sharing our testimonies, building Godly friendships, running retreats or youth groups, or just being part of a community of service; we know that in the spiritual life, when we give, we receive. It is a mystery, but it is a mystery that makes a lot of sense the more we live and unpack our Christian faith… God is Love. We know the conviction of faith that comes from time given to our Lord for the sake of His Church, the closeness to God that often comes in leading others towards Him, the beautiful friendships built in fulfilling the common goal of winning souls for Christ.

These days opportunities to serve in this way often mean a lot more time or energy than we have: parish retreats require hours of prep beforehand, schools often need weekdays of free time and youth groups seem to require an almost constant stream of attention, communication, and preparation.

At the same time there is a great need for good, faithful, talented Catholics to serve parishes and schools on retreats, courses, prayer group meetings and leader training sessions in and around the diocese (and even the country). Especially post the Covid 19 pandemic, many groups seem to be starting from scratch and need all the help they can get.

Serviam aims to put these two realities together: to offer retreats and programs to schools and parishes; to do the prep and the admin, and to provide faithful Catholics who are passionate about evangelization and service with opportunities to serve Our Lord and His Church, with whatever time and effort their state of life can afford. There are a great number of talented individuals (like yourself), whom God has blessed with such abilities that can really enrich the faith lives of many Christians in our local Church (young and old). People who are passionate about serving Our Lord, and who have so much to give, but just don’t have enough time or resources to commit weekly, or even monthly.

The aim is to make service as manageable as possible for volunteers. We ask you to commit only what you can given your state of life: whether it is giving a talk once a quarter, leading group discussions or retreats only on weekends, or helping with administration for a retreat twice a year… We organize the rest, and commit to good communication, getting in touch with you and giving you as much lead time as possible to prepare.

How does it work?

So here are the details of our proposal. Please give them a careful read and pray about whether you may be able to commit to serve in this way. And please contact us if you would like to talk about getting involved.

Should you join Serviam we will add you to our network of volunteers and the Serviam Whatsapp group for your region. We will contact you periodically when there is need for assistance on a Serviam event. Serviam will hold monthly formation and skill sharing sessions in person and online. The goals with these sessions is to create a space where members can come together in Christian fellowship, share and learn about the Catholic faith, and to gain valuable insights in sharing the Good news.

• The ways you would be comfortable/able to serve:
  • Give talks
  • Give testimonies
  • Lead small group discussions
  • Administration
  • Communication
  • Event setup and support for events
  • MC on retreats/events
  • Praise and Worship
  • Praying for Serviam events
• The groups with which you would be comfortable/able to serve:
  • Preteens
  • Teens
  • Young adults
  • Adults
• How often you feel you will be able to serve.
• How much time you would be able to realistically be available to serve.
• Whether or not you would be able to serve on a weekday (with enough lead time or within certain dates).
• How much lead time you require to be able to commit to service.
• Whether you would like to be contacted when there is a need for help, even if it is last minute (just in case).

We will contact you directly when there is an opportunity to serve that matches your commitment. Should you consent we will add you to the Serviam WhatsApp group where we will make information about various events (as well as last minute pleas for assistance) will be shared.

If you volunteer to give a talk or testimony as part of the Serviam Initiative you will:

• Be given the brief or talk outline at the earliest possible moment (so you can prepare it well)
• Meet with a team member before the event to give your talk or send a voice note of the talk to them. This is to provide opportunities for continual growth, promote excellence in execution of presentations and ensure content is free of doctrinal error.

Joining the Serviam Initiative entitles you to:

• A stipend to cover travel costs every time you serve (you may decline this if you wish)
• Free entrance to monthly Serviam formation and skill sharing sessions
• 5% discount on the TOBSA online store

Your Commitment

Membership to the Serviam Initiative would require you to serve on at least one Serviam event per year, attend a preparation session before each service event (preparation/training to be no longer than 1,5 hours), attend monthly Serviam formation sessions when possible (in person or online), and to pray for all Serviam events. A Serviam member also commits to prepare for all occasions of service and give of oneself to the best of his or her ability, for the glory of God and the sake of His Church. 

Our Commitment

We commit to giving Serviam volunteers the earliest lead time possible for events, clear communication on what is required and to send relevant information (dates, venues, talk outlines…) to members as soon as practically possible. We want to make this a known quantity for all involved, so that when someone commits to serve, they know when it will be, how long it will take and what they need to do in preparation, as early as possible. In return we ask that members please do their best to honour their word once they have committed to an event. Should they have to cancel, we would ask that this member please assist us by finding another leader who can take the place that they committed to, if at all possible. We also commit to equipping Serviam members with the faith formation and training necessary to serve.

The word SERVIAM in Latin means “I will serve”. This is simply the spirit with which this initiative is born: “Yes, I will serve”. All of these plans and structures have been pondered over and prayed about about, and put in place to make serving possible for the greatest number of people. If you feel like your skillset lies outside of what has been described above but would still like to get involved please get in touch with us using the contact us section of our website. Thank you for yes!

Dean Spiller