10 things we’re grateful for this year
As we look back at 2025, we are so grateful for all the churches and people we’ve met who are making a difference in their communities. We have been deeply encouraged seeing single people welcomed and valued in so many more churches – and by every single person who is bringing this conversation to their leaders and congregations.
Every small step forward makes a real and tangible difference to changing the narrative around singleness in church. Here are 10 things the Single Friendly Church Network team are giving thanks to God for this year…
1) Our new Single Friendly Churches
We had 14 churches commit to be official Single Friendly Churches this year covering a wide range of the UK, from East Sussex and the South West of England, up to Wales, Suffolk, Nottingham and Blackpool in the North of England.
We were so encouraged to read all the positive things churches shared in their Audits that they are already doing - and the valuable honest discussions they had about areas to work on. Lots of churches had run focus groups to listen to the voices of their single members and understand the single experience from a range of perspectives.
2) Churches recommitting to be Single Friendly
We also had 18 churches recommit to be part of our network for another 3 years! These were churches who used our Audit in their churches between 2020 and 2022. It was really positive to hear that they have noticed a difference in their churches and want to continue to prioritise welcoming single people in all they do.
3) Equipping churches to discuss End of Life
We published a new resource this summer to help churches support single people in end of life planning, based on the experiences and suggestions shared in our End of Life survey.
Over 50% of survey respondents said their churches don’t offer any practical help in preparing for this. We know that planning is essential to ensure that the life and faith of single Christians is honoured after they pass on, and that friends and church family are given the opportunity to mourn. We hope that our new resource will fill the gap and equip churches to tackle this important issue in a loving and practical way.
4) Sharing our Top Tips
We explored new digital resources for churches with our ‘Top Tips’ video series on YouTube. Knowing how busy churches can be, our Top Tips videos share quick practical ideas for making small changes that will make a big difference to how single people experience church.
5) Online talks for single people
We recognised that lots of our single supporters aren’t currently in a position to influence their church – or are not attending any church right now. We started an online events series to provide encouraging teaching for single Christians, which offers educational content for church leaders too.
Author Anna Broadway kicked off our series in May sharing what she learned from her research with single Christians around the world, focussing particularly on how single and married people need each other. In September Rev Eleanor Jeans unpacked some key teachings on singleness and identity from her Securely Single course.
We are encouraged at how popular these events have been, with lots of single people sharing how they have been uplifted and spiritually fed. We plan to do more in 2026 with new speakers. If you would like to recommend a speaker, do get in touch.
“Thank you for this session, a very careful mix of the positives and difficulties of being single-thank you for being a voice in this sphere” - on Eleanor Jeans’ session
6) Training leaders across the UK
We continued our Single Friendly training across the country, delivering workshops and talks in Dowlais, Wales, Huddersfield, Hatfield, Telford and Emly, as well as online. We also shared our mission with future church leaders at London School of Theology, St Mellitus College in Plymouth, and a University chapel service, with students responding extremely positively.
7) Connecting with different denominations
After attending the Baptist Assembly and the Church of England General Synod last year, in 2025 we made inroads with a wider range of denominations.
In March we attended the Churches Together in England Forum, where we connected with some networks for the first time, including the Lutheran church and the Salvation Army. As a result, we welcomed our first Salvation Army Single Friendly Church this summer!
We were greatly encouraged that in 2024 the Methodist Church published a Report on Singleness, which highlighted the experience of single people in church and called for practical change. We attended the Methodist General Synod to help churches respond to this report and had positive conversations with hundreds of church representatives. We also held a fringe event which brought together people who were passionate about seeing singles of all ages welcomed in Methodism.
We engaged more closely with Pentecostal churches, speaking with many enthusiastic leaders at the Elim Leaders Summit, as well as attending an Assemblies of God conference in the South East, which led to many good connections with AOG churches.
In Glasgow, we discussed our work with people in the Church of Scotland. We were encouraged to hear that churches already had a very single friendly culture embedded and that they want to celebrate this.
Finally, we met lots of people at the Christian Resources Exhibition, some of whom were already using our resources, and others hearing about us for the first time.
8) Reflecting on the Quiet Revival
Following the Bible Society’s Report published in April, we reflected on the Quiet Revival and how it highlighted young people’s desire for meaning and community - many of whom will be single. The report energised us on the importance of our missional focus as a charity.
9) Growing our online community
We are thankful that our social media channels are growing! It is great to be able to engage with single people directly to hear their thoughts and ideas for how churches can be more single friendly. We are also very encouraged by the number of churches who follow us and interact with our content.
We were also glad to feature on two podcasts this year - a conversation with Roots for Churches about being single at Christmas, and with the Assemblies of God on their development podcast That CPD Show.
10) Bittersweet changes to our team
Finally, our Single Friendly Church team saw some changes in the second half of this year as we said goodbye to Mike Simpson, who stepped down as Executive Director, and welcomed Sorcha Connell on board. We are so grateful for everything Mike has contributed to our work, from managing our transition into a charity to building up and guiding our team, and we wish him all the best in his next chapter.
We looking forward Sorcha leading us with fresh vision into 2026 as we seek to build on all the positive things we have seen this year. She says:
“I’m delighted to be joining Single Friendly Church Network as the new Executive Director, it’s a true privilege to step into this role and be part of such a welcoming, forward-thinking community.”
Thank you for your support for our work this year! Would you join us in praying that we might see many more churches in 2026 who are passionate about welcoming and valuing single people, at every stage of life. Wishing you a peaceful Betwixmas and very happy new year.