5 Things Single People Need from the Church

1. See us.

• If you’re a speaker, talk about marriage, but also about the possibility of celibacy and prolonged singleness. Revere all options—like the apostle Paul did. 

• Broaden views of male and female roles beyond breadwinning and childrearing. 

2. Validate us.

• Celebrate how God is using us by admiring our contributions at work or how we met that single parent for lunch. 
• Convince us of our significance—help us understand how we can use our schedules, our relationships, and our aloneness to bless the church and fulfill the missio Dei.

3. Include us.

• Mention us in pastoral prayers. And when thinking up applications for messages, include a single man or a dating woman in your examples. When you do so, challenge us toward more than just sexual purity.
• Invite us to small groups and dinner parties, even when all the other guests are married. We need close relationships with people from all walks of life.

4. Help us.

• Offer to change our windshield wipers or join us as we look at houses for sale.
• Tell us we may call you at any time—if our car stalls on the highway or if we return home to find the front door vandalized. 
• Send us home from church with healthful leftovers.

5. Welcome us into your family.

• Offer to have dinner waiting for us before small group. Eating at your house, even leftover spaghetti, fills us up better than a Big Mac.
• Invite us to Junior’s soccer match or to go bowling with your family. Many of us would love to spend time with our friends’ kids. 

Shannon Gianotti is a freelance writer, family nurse practitioner, and DTS student working on an MA in Media Arts and Worship.

About the Contributors

Shannon Gianotti