by Pastor Patrick Cho

One of the great privileges at church is being able to minister to working adults, helping disciple them to magnify Christ in their workplace, personal lives, and relationships. However, sometimes working with single adults can be quite challenging. One of the difficulties about Single Life is that there is a wide range of context in the lives of the singles. This certainly can be a significant time when they are deciding on what career to pursue as they job hunt with their various applications and interviews. Many singles are working out the biblical principles about life that they learned during college.

There are other singles who have been in the workforce for a while. Their concerns are not about choosing their professions as much as being faithful in the work that God has already led them to do. They are dealing with the complexities of representing Christ in the workplace while distinguishing between what is appropriate and what is necessary. Sometimes decisions are presented in the workplace that might tempt them to compromise biblical principles. For others, it is simply about practicing those principles consistently in the workplace and exhibiting good Christian character and Christ-likeness.

When it comes to the pursuit of marriage, some singles are perfectly content with remaining single for now. They are happy to focus on their jobs or simply growing in their faith. Others desire to be married but either have not had the opportunity to pursue it or have been turned down in that pursuit. Understandably, this can be frustrating and challenging to a person’s faith. Still others are in dating relationships or are engaged and are fighting to not only maintain purity, but to keep Christ central in their relationships. They don’t want their relationship to be a hindrance to their walk with God, but want it to help stimulate greater godliness.

Adding to the challenges of leading singles is the truth that male and female singles each typically struggle with their unique temptations and encumbrances. Those who shepherd singles need to understand these generalities while still ministering to each person as an individual and helping them to become complete in Christ.

As numerous as these challenges are, this is what makes singles ministry so vital in the life of the church. It isn’t simply about coming together to listen to a sermon. It is about having a group of individuals who relate to your life experiences and who can help each other grow and hold each other accountable. Even though the challenges are diverse, the solution is the same. Our goal will be to look to Scripture to see what God’s Word tells us about how to handle the challenges that we face. This is going to be an exciting year for Single Life, one where we will hopefully see much spiritual growth in the lives of our members.