This is not the blog of a girl who has it all together. I don’t write because my life makes perfect sense. I have a lot of questions and not a lot of answers.

Some of my questions stem from being single. That’s going to be a focus in my writing. I believe the American church needs a bigger vision for singles, who make up 50.2% of the overall population 16 and older in the U.S. according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (reported in 2014). The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2014 that there are 107 million unmarried people 18 and over living in the U.S. That’s quite a lot of single people. Even though those numbers don’t tell us the percentage of singles in the church, we need to consider that each and every one of those people needs to be loved by the church. Singles—along with our married brothers and sisters—are joints and ligaments, hands, mouths, and ears in the Body of Christ. Sometimes, it feels more like people think we’re the hangnails of the Body (an annoyance, serve no function, providing a possible danger of infection).

A disclaimer before we continue: When I talk about the church, I speak from my own very limited observation and experience. I’ve lived in the same city my whole life. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church, was an active member in a small independent Christian Church for eight years, and now I’m a member of a large United Methodist congregation. I come from a broadly Evangelical perspective. In this blog, I’ll say, “The church needs this,” or “The church does that,” but I don’t claim to speak to or about all churches, either in America or elsewhere. I’ve grown up in the Bible Belt. Analogous to the making of its signature beverage, this corner of the world has been steeped in and sweetened by cultural Christianity. (The drink is sweet tea, just in case you didn’t catch that, and it’s not the same as iced tea.) Mine is a land where “Bless his heart,” picnics on the lawn, and big-haired ladies in choir robes abound. That definitely colors my perspective about many issues.

Right now, I’m not even sure I have a perspective worth mentioning on all the hot issues of the day. I’m getting close to 30, but there’s so much I’ve never considered. This blog will (hopefully) allow us to consider and explore together.

Some of the questions that have been rattling around in my brain:

1. What does it mean to be hospitable when you’re one of the growing number of millennials who live at home with Mom and Dad (36.4% of women and 42.8% of men in 2014)?

2. Despite the large number of singles living in the U.S., why does it so often feel like we’re forgotten in the church, and what’s the best way to move forward? Do we entitled millennials just need a collective attitude adjustment, or should the church change how she ministers to adults? Maybe a combination of the two?

3. Of the assumptions about the good life the American church has instilled in us, which are universally true and which are more the product of the culture we live in?

There are many more questions besides. I hope you’ll come along to explore them with me and offer your thoughts, too.

And just to be clear, I don’t want this to become a church-bashing forum. There’s much to love in the church as she is. Let’s let the following Scripture be our guide:

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Thanks for starting the journey with me!