Florida Conference committed to reaching singles

LAKELAND — Jesus Christ was a single adult, yet single adults “often have difficulty finding a place of connection and acceptance at the local church,” says the Rev. Nancy Wood, the Florida Conference’s consultant on singles ministries. That is why the Florida Conference has made a commitment to reach the 44 percent of the population that is single, divorced or widowed.

“Churches avidly support two-parent families, but don’t know what to do with the others [singles],” Wood said. “They just hope they fit in somehow.”

Nearly 6.1 million single adults live in the Florida Conference area, representing 43.8 percent of the total population, according to a 1998 demographic study commissioned by the office of New Church Development and Church Redevelopment and conducted by the Percept Group Inc. in California.

That percentage is below the national average, but Florida’s 21.1 percent widowed and divorced population is higher than the national average of 18.3 percent.

“Approximately 50 percent of these [single] people are unchurched,” Wood said. “It’s a very exciting ministry.”

But, Wood says, singles ministries can also be difficult. One problem is overcoming the misconception that a singles ministry is a social club where single people meet and get married. “It’s not match-making,” she said. “Its goal is to allow people to meet and experience God as a single person.”

Wood said another goal is to help people heal. Nearly half of all marriages in the United States end in divorce, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. The 2.3 million adults affected by divorce each year need a “special ministry to help them through one of the most devastating of life’s events,” Wood said, adding that many pastors feel inadequate to deal with divorced or separated people.

Ministry to divorced people becomes even more difficult when children are involved. With a growing number of single parent homes and shrinking welfare entitlements, singles ministries are faced with helping adults and children deal with poverty, drug abuse and health challenges. “It’s important that the children affected by singleness not be left behind,” Wood said.

The increased need has caused an increased interest in singles ministries, according to Wood. “Churches are beginning to staff for single ministries. Even smaller churches are adding part-time staff,” she said. National organizations, such as the United Methodist Single Adult Leaders, are receiving more inquiries about single adult resources.

“The Florida Conference has some good stuff happening, but it needs some work,” she said. “I am very grateful to the bishop [Cornelius L. Henderson] for his encouragement and support.”

At Henderson’s suggestion, the conference’s Single Adult Leadership Team (SALT) was formed in 1998 and is planning a singles event Oct. 1-3 in Orlando. The weekend will feature workshops to teach church leaders singles ministry skills and offer the opportunity for single adults to network and learn to cope with their situation.

Despite the magnitude of the task, Wood said singles ministries are a necessary, lifesaving outreach of the church. “I’ve spoken with doctors and lawyers who were involved with…divorced and widowed people,” she said. “They’ve said that the singles ministry saved people’s lives. They were suicidal, going through depression, said they couldn’t go on. But because of the singles ministry, now they’re moving right along.”

(For more information on the singles ministries, contact the Rev. Nancy Wood at 407-423-5005 or e-mail: samwood@sundial.net.)

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© 1999 Florida United Methodist Review Online