Events

‘Honestly, HopefulGirl, my problem isn’t that I have issues around dating – it’s that I never meet any single Christian men,’ a reader told me. ‘I’m starting to believe they’re mythical creatures, like unicorns!’

‘I meet girls at work and through friends, but never any that share my faith,’ said a guy online. ‘There’s only one single lady at my church, and she’s nearly 80!’

This year we became a Greenbelt Associate, working with them to put together a programme of events together for single festival goers.

On 20th September, 200 people, came together at Spirit Station Pier in Port Melbourne, Australia and raised over $3,000 to support Iraqi Christians.

Last month, I spelled out the mistakes guys make at singles events. But we ladies often do ourselves no favours, either. We arrive in packs, spend the evening chatting to each other, shy away from making eye contact with the men, reject the ice-breaker games as naff – and then head home complaining that nobody spoke to us!

1 in 3 adults in the UK are now single. That’s one person for every married or cohabiting couple.

At this year’s Greenbelt festival, we will be exploring the question of whether singleness offers a life of freedom and independence, or whether it can bring challenges which are overlooked by the church and society.

As I entered the singles party, I felt that familiar spark of hope that tonight might be the night I’d meet Mr Right. But as I looked around, my heart sank a little. You know the phrase ‘a face like an unmade bed’? Well, this was like walking into a ward of unmade beds. A row of scruffy, paunchy, dejected-looking men gazed back at me with dull eyes. ‘Looks aren’t everything,’ I thought. ‘But seriously, gentlemen, if you’re looking for a wife, it wouldn’t hurt to run an iron over your shirt and drag a comb through your hair.’

For many people, going to a familiar festival each year can feel like returning home to a community of family and friends, while for others it can be very daunting, particularly if you are coming on your own, or for the first time.

Over 100 people travelled to Bedford to share their experiences and stories of being single in church and their dreams for the future. The stories varied from the positive, to the heartbreaking and the humorous. But there was an underlying sense of determination that single Christians can be empowered to affect a change in Church culture.