How to Start a Single Adult Ministry

How to Start a Single Adult Ministry

Today single adults comprise almost 50 percent of the adult population in the U.S. Singles include people who never married, divorced, or widowed. Some are parents who are either divorced, widowed, separated, or never married. Yet in many churches single adults feel uncomfortable or out of place because they are included in classes or groups for married adults. What they need is a place just for them. How can you create a ministry that meets the needs of single adults in a more effective and personal way?

Preparations

First, pray for single adults in your church already and in your community as well. Next consider a demographic focus for your ministry.

Getting started right is not a blind shot in the dark. Plan carefully how you start a ministry to single adults. If your church does not have a single’s ministry already, get help from Single Adult Ministry Solution – Leader Manual . While the details and specifics of your ministry will be based on the people to whom you plan to minister, Single Adult Ministry Solution – Leader Manual gives you the basics on which to build your ministry.

Some churches enjoy the size and resources required for a multi-faceted ministry to all types of single adults. For most churches, generalized “one-size-fits-all” ministries may be needed at first, but tend not to work in the long term. Similarly, a “College and Career” class brings together adults from two completely different life stages. Be selective and intentional in your ministry.

Begin

Take the start of your ministry very seriously and strive for quality in every effort. Don’t attempt too much too quickly. People in the work world expect high-quality meetings and events. The church should do no less for the kingdom of God.

Recruit a strong leadership team to help with a variety of ministry assignments. Seek those with exemplary character, a vision, and a passion for single adult ministry leadership team. Work with this team to give the ministry an identity with a distinctive name. Then create a mission statement. Filter your plans and activities through the statement.

Key Elements

Include the following key elements in your Single Adult Ministry.

Bible study -Make certain Bible study focuses on studying Scripture rather than a popular book or a Christian issue. Find other opportunities for those types of studies. Use ongoing curriculum materials to provide doctrinally sound, balanced Bible study.

Outreach -Make visitors feel valued. Speak to them, sit with them in worship, invite them to lunch, obtain personal information on them (address, phone number, and so forth) for follow-up, give them a small gift as a part of a visitor’s packet. Follow their visit to your class by contacting them in the next week by note, e-mail, phone, or in person.

Activities and events -Concerts, plays, miniature golf, dinners, movies, game nights, bowling, volleyball, hiking, area talent shows, and many other activities are all good. Be sure to clear the dates for your activity with your church-wide calendar. Don’t forget to include events for kids if single parents are part of your target group.

Ministry and missions -“In-group” and “out-of-group” ministries should both be emphasized. Possible in-group activities include ministry to sick or injured group members, assistance with home repairs, sewing, cooking, and mechanical repairs. Examples of out-of-group ministry opportunities include making care packages for the military or for pregnancy centers, serving at a homeless shelter, and mission trips. You will never exhaust all of the potential mission opportunities.

The High Call of Parenting

Christian parenting is an adventure that bears great responsibility and can be the greatest privilege of your life

Through the daily process of raising your child, you can turn even the non-glamorous parts of parenting into a schedule of preparing your child for a lifelong walk with his Creator. As a Christian parent, the following things are your main responsibilities.

Nurture Your Child’s Spiritual Growth
Children who are raised to know God can learn to feel unconditional love, know a sense of purpose, and care for the needs of others. This competitive edge gives their lives worth and prepares them not only to face the uncertainties of life with gusto, but also gives them hope of an eternal life in heaven. To nurture your child’s spiritual development, you can:
• Go to church. This sounds simple, but busy families often have a hard time fitting regular church attendance into their schedules.
• Worship together. At the very least, offer thanks to God for His provision at mealtimes and bedtime. Encourage your child to voice his own prayers. Listen to Christian music in the car and at home. Read simple Bible stories to your preschooler; provide a school-age child with his own devotional book. Once a week, talk together about how God has blessed your family. Pray for others.
• Teach your child about giving tithes and offerings. Set an example by giving a portion of your own earnings to the church. Let your child place his own offering in the envelope on Saturday night and into the offering plate on Sunday.

Guide Your Child’s Education
As a parent, you are your child’s first and best teacher. You know your child best and can encourage him to do and be his best. Whether you feel God’s guidance to enroll your child in public, private, or home school, you must remain vigilant and involved in his educational process. You should:
• Volunteer in your child’s school. Attend school functions and extracurricular activities.
• Support teachers and administrators. Never before has the chasm between parents and school leadership been so wide. Teachers value the cooperative support of parents. Ask how you can help. Pray for them and tell them you are doing so. Address concerns with care and concern rather than hostility. Teach your child to respect and obey teachers and administrators.
• Make time for learning. Make homework time family time. You can write letters, read a book, clip coupons, or prepare for a meeting at work while your child studies. Sharing homework time teaches your child that learning is a lifelong process.
• Encourage learning away from school. Watch less TV and spend less time in front of the computer. Take your child on fun and educational outings to the zoo, science museum, nature center, or aquarium. Cook together, read books, or take a photography class together. Participate in hobbies.

Pass Along Christian Family Values
Secular society presses upon Christian families from every side. Parents have a responsibility to teach children about choices — not only what not to do but what to do.

For example:
• Your personal example teaches your child what kinds of entertainment you value. Television shows, movies, books, magazines, and video games can contain offensive language, sexual innuendo, and mature themes. Expect your child to notice what you watch, read, and say. Decide if a product is inappropriate for your family and explain to your child why. This will help your child begin to make discerning choices for himself.
• A school-age child is ready for some honest discussion about how the world works and why Christians choose to act differently. Providing free baby-sitting to a single mom at your church or in your neighborhood teaches your child that he can use his time and money to help others. Befriending a child with special needs helps your child begin to accept the differences of others. Returning incorrect change to a cashier demonstrates honesty and integrity in daily living.

Teach Respect for Others
Tolerance is a word used often in secular society. As the culture supposedly becomes more adept at tolerating the rights, beliefs, and attitudes of others, children are becoming disrespectful to one another and to authority figures. Turn the tide of disrespect in your home:
• Teach your child to use his manners. “Please” and “thank you” can still be magic words.
• Remind your child that adults with whom they interact (school teachers, church leaders, parents of friends, and adult relatives) have the same authority as you do. When a Sunday School teacher asks your child to stop running in the church hallway, he is to comply. If an aunt or uncle urges him to share or help clean up, he should immediately obey.
• Give positive, consistent discipline. Children need boundaries. Do not worry; your child will still love you if you enforce appropriate rules at home! When a child is expected to obey the rules at home, he will be more inclined to obey the rules (and the law) away from home as well.

Provide a Safe Harbor
The world is a scary place, but home can be a place of refuge, safety, and love. Continue to make time for family, even as your child grows older:
• Eat meals together as often as possible. The family meal is quickly becoming a novelty. However, children need this time not only to practice healthy eating habits, but also to communicate as a family.
• Make family nights a priority. Play board games or watch appropriate videos or DVDs. Take a walk around the neighborhood. Ride bikes. Play in the creek. It does not matter what you do. The point is to spend time together.
• Start new traditions. Find an interest you all share. Try attending baseball games at the local college. Go to the library together. Play in the park every Saturday. Send a family picture to relatives and friends at Easter instead of Christmas. Eat waffles every Thursday night. Repetitive activities, when done together, help a child feel secure and self-assured.

PLEASE GIVE OTHER PARENTS YOUR ADVICE!

MARRIAGE

Most married couples live and love on borrowed time. They spend their prime time on everything “out there,” and then scrape together whatever is left over and bank on the time they’re borrowing from the future — saying someday we’ll do this or that, tomorrow we won’t be so busy, eventually things will be different. But will they? Really?

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