In my previous post I vlogged about building grad student fellowships from the ground up, one pair of students at a time. After following up 16 students from orientation there are six students eager to explore Spiritual Friendship in tiny groups of two! The challenge is to find a corner and meet every week. A corner, according to spiritual formation author Mindy Caliguire, is a space and a place where the quiet business of connecting with another can take place.

Here’s me and my first pair, Emma and Mara. I had coffee with each of them individually – getting to know their story, sounding them out on the idea of starting a Spiritual Friendship. Once I had a sense for their personalities, I prayed and match-made my way through my contacts. This was the launch – a 7 minute zoom call to introduce them to each other, cover a few guidelines and have them find their corner!

Over the next month, I’m hoping to launch a total of four Spiritual Friendship pairs at Creighton. I’ll be checking in with them, sending them helpful ideas for their time together each week. 30 minutes to land, listen and encourage one another. We’ll see how this goes. Stay tuned for a new blog my team and I are developing to resource students jumping into this. Pray for me to finish some last minute match-making and for my team as we wade through some terrific soul-care resources on Spiritual Friendship. If you’ve heard of this idea before and know of a great book or website, email me below and give me the name of it! Our team will tear through it and see what can be curated for our students.

Is this thing just a Creighton thing? I seriously hope not. I’m piloting it here, but there are at least 4 other schools in my area with GFM staff interested in developing the model. We’ll keep you posted! Thanks for praying.