Interview
Church of England declares that single people matter
In a new report, the Church of England declares that single people should be valued just as much as couples and families.
The Church of England Commission on Families and Households yesterday published its ‘Love Matters’ report.
One of the report’s five ambitions is to: ‘Honour singleness and single person households.’
Single Friendly Church welcomes the acknowledgement that single people in church require a new focus from the Church of England.
Single Friendly Church has been working effectively with churches for 10 years to address this issue. The organisation was established after researching the perspectives of thousands of single Christians. It provides practical resources and training to help churches welcome, value and include single people. Single Friendly Church are referenced in the full Love Matters Report on pages 50-51.
Over 400 churches have already committed to undertake an audit of their response to single people. Single Friendly Church is building a network of Single Friendly Churches across the UK who have completed our audit and are committed to making positive changes in their churches. Our vision is for all churches to welcome, value and include single people of all ages and circumstances.
Mike Simpson of Single Friendly Church says, “The recognition by the Church of England that they haven’t been doing enough for single people is long overdue. We are grateful that the report acknowledges the work of Single Friendly Church over the last decade, but the aspirations which it expresses need to be translated into meaningful actions. We believe all churches would benefit from practical support to welcome and include single people. We are ready to support churches responding to this challenge.”
The message about valuing single people in church went on to make worldwide news. This is perhaps the first time that the issue of singleness in the church has had such massive worldwide coverage, with articles in the Times, the Guardian, Washington Post, Daily Mail, CNN and many more.
You can read the full report on the Church of England website.
"Jesus’ own singleness should ensure that the Church of England celebrates singleness and does not regard it as lesser than living in a couple relationship." (Love Matters report summary p17)