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.

There aren’t many single Christians who haven’t, at some point, longed for a family of their own. The Christian church family is great (usually), but often we yearn for the closeness of a biological family, of people who really care for each other and help each other out. Can we create this in our churches without getting married? I think we can.

Here are 10 ideas for creating community.

I talk to singles all the time.

I hear a few common things about what is hard about being single, what is missing in the singles ministries in the church and what they feel most misunderstood about.

Next time you want to tell someone who is single that it’s a gift, enjoy this time being single, God’s timing is perfect etc … please consider the things they respectfully aren’t sharing with you.

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.

Myth: Counselling is just for people whose lives are falling apart or going through a crisis.

Myth: Going to counselling is an admission of failure or sign of weakness.

If you’re single, you probably get advice from different people, including well-meaning family and friends on the single life and what to expect when you get married. But here are five simple but important things I believe every single person should know and bear in mind during this stage of life.

When some people write about singleness, it sounds like they’re codependent on an imaginary person. I read stories of longing and waiting and tears and I just don’t relate. I hear tales of emptiness though hope holds steady, or resolution despite hope-on-the-rocks, and I raise my eyebrows. I don’t doubt that these words matter and are true, true, true for people.

But I don’t get it. Maybe I am a sociopath, but I just don’t get it.

Fact: there is only one way to find love. It’s a simple formula, from which no deviation is tolerated. Who should pursue, how the pursued should respond, a smooth series of appropriate interactions unto the point of happy ever after and fade out amid bluebird song (bluebirds trained to sing ‘Shine, Jesus, Shine’, obviously). Books have been written on the perfect (ahem) method of playing the age-old game of persuading that special someone into your life as the indisputable God-ordained fulfillment of your destiny.