NAD Adventist Single Adult Ministries : Forum

When speaking to singles I have often encouraged them to begin a Single Adult Ministry in their church. Several times the response has been, "We don't have enough singles to start a ministry there are only three or four of us in our church." What about the following statement?

"Simply said, singles ministry is a ministry of one to one. It is one person drawing from another out of the storehouse and surplus God has given. Organization and structure become most effective when the "one to one" takes precidence. Take a person who is needy, fill that need with a tiny seed of hope from another, and you have begun a fascinating journey - you travel toward reaching God's great goal of making disciples. Whether your group numbers ten, one hundred ten, or one thousand ten, your best first step will be inviting other singles to help you fill the Great Comission - one to one. Jesus, in his last days on earth, gave us these special words, "You, then, are to go and make disciples of all the nations and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you and, remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the world" (Matt. 28:19-20 PHILLIPS). Baker Handbook of Single Adult Ministry

So, if people come to our Single Adult Ministry Events to minister or be ministered to, is ministry taking place? Whether there are three or four, should we not have a ministry? If not, why do we go to Ministry events. Could we be going for the wrong reasons? Do we perhaps have the wrong idea of what the Ministry is?

Darlene,

You certainly have put forth much to consider.

I do know that in our Church there are not many single adults. In the past we have attempted to have a Women's Ministry and a Single's Ministry. The Women's Ministry was seriously discouraged and it was rated much higher in importance than the Single's Ministry. Many of our Churches are just not receptive to such stuff

OTOH, there are probably 10-12 single people who like to be involved with other members. So we often have functions in which everyone is invited. Next Sunday night we are having a nice Christmas Party at one of our ladies home. Single people usually are not invited to the "Nice" functions so we try to do things independent of the church sponsored events.

As mother always said, there's more than one way to skin a cat!

Just some thoughts,

Jackie

I like that Jackie. Meeting in the homes of other singles is a good one. In 2006, I've been asked to lead the Singles Ministries in my home church. A couple of years ago I did it but, had to resign because of travelling too much. This year I'm going to try to book off one week a month just so we can do something. We probably have at least 30 singles though they may not all come.

The first event we're planning is an awareness Sabbath service by the Committee followed by a fellowship potluck and an evening Film Festival. The festival is for the whole church since we are trying to raise some money so our Committee can go to the SAM Convention.

The films we'll show will probably be: "Lighten Up And Laugh by Ken Davis and Friends," "The Loretta Clairborne Story," "The Climb," and "Love Comes Softly." All great pictures.

This should be an easy event to plan since our awareness service is already prepared, a potluck everyone contributes to and all you need for a film festival is equipment and a few people to run it.

It is now Nominating Committee time in most Adventist Churches across North America which means some of us will be asked by our churches to be the Single Adult Ministries Coordinator. Have any of you been asked and have you accepted? I really hope so. (Actually, I was asked but had to turn it down since I am rarely in my church due to my travelling schedule) SAD. I would have loved to stay home and do it but, work duties call.

We really do need to get the ministry more active. In Canada now, our population is now made up of 51.6889 single adults. (The U.S. isn't that different either) So.........that means we have a very great work to do in inviting other single adults to come along with us to our soon, expected Heavenly home!