Naked Truth Relationships Podcast

Being single and being in church in your 40s and 50s isn’t really talked about too much, and people are single at this age for many different reasons. So in this episode Ian and Mike join André for a discussion about this stuff. Ian has been single his whole life with the exception of one short relationship, and Mike had been married for twenty-five years but is now divorced and been single again for five years. Their experience of singleness, especially as people involved with leading churches and involved in pastoral ministries, brings a unique voice and understanding to issues around singleness, being single at a later stage of life, and how their situations have impacted their faith.

Dating in church, and creating christian dating cultures which are supportive and a genuine alternative to how our culture says we should date, raises the need to ask lots of difficult questions. Today André is joined by Garreth, who is a church leader in his late 20s and has recently started a dating relationship. Emily is chatting to André too, she is in her mid 20s and recently married and works with students in her church. Their context and personal journeys means this conversation delves deeply into how church is helping and hindering us as we try and build healthy and godly dating cultures. As well as touching on some of the subtle differences men and women face in the dating world.

This episode welcomes Simon and Sarah who’ve been married for three years. André discusses with them how marriage affects mission, and how mission affects marriage, as they talk about what it’s like bringing God into our relationships, whether married or dating. Simon and Sarah also evaluate the conversations they were having when they started dating, when they got engaged, when they got married, and the ones they have now. They honestly share about their own hopes and dreams around church leadership and church planting, giving insight into some helpful questions couples can chat about as they think about this stuff, and how to be involved in mission whilst being a couple.

Grace and Clare join André in this episode to talk about their experience of singleness. They are both in their mid 20s and single themselves, having had a few relationships in the past. Despite the similarities they share, their perspective on singleness and the church, the pressures they go through, and their experience of being single, are actually quite different. Yet, working this out within the christian community is something they’re both doing, and they openly discuss the wisdom and things they’ve learned as they reflect on their situations

Jonathan and Nathan are in their late 20s and early 30s. Their work with Rivers&Robots and Set Sail means they are constantly working with people their age who find themselves with all types of relationship statuses, so they are well placed to talk about what being single and starting a relationship is like in the church and Christian community. Why is it seen as such a hard thing to talk about in church? Why is it hard to date when you are part of a community? Why does the whole dating thing seems so intense? How do you break-up well? André, Jonathan and Nathan discuss all of this and more.

Today André is joined by a dating couple, Miriam and James, who’ve been together for about 18 months. They very bravely share what dating has been like while being part of a church, openly talking about the positives and negatives, as well as the challenges around moving from being single to now being in a couple, and what that means for their friendships, how they serve God, and how they use their time. They also unpick the processes and thinking involved as they work all of this stuff out, talk about how they now interact with their single friends now that they are in a dating relationship, having been single for a long time beforehand.

This episode is all about singleness. André is chatting with two guests called Lora, who is a single mum who has separated from her ex husband, and Char, who has always been single. They led Honoured Singles; an organisation doing amazing work empowering single people in church, supporting them and emphasising the value they bring to the christian community. The discussion reveals the wisdom they’ve learnt from their personal contexts and from the work they’re involved in, chatting about the barriers that hinder us as we try and move from singleness to dating, why singleness shouldn’t be seen as second best, and what it’s really like being single in the church today.