Towards A Ministry Model For The Single Adult Of The Seventh-Day Adventist Church

In the Seventh-day Adventist church there is a percentage of adult members who are single. It is the purpose of this project to study the possible needs and problems of this segment of the church\u27s membership with a view to the development of an approach in ministry to this group. This project presented a survey of current comments and findings of literature with respect to certain problems that may confront the single adult. This survey of literature was limited to a consideration of whether peer-group association, loneliness, social pressure, anxiety, sexual morality, and marriage are indeed problematic in the experience of singlehood. Also, a questionnaire, to elicit the subjective perspectives of the single adult toward these problems and the relationship of these problems to peer-group association, was administered to members of the single adults\u27 club in Berrien Springs, Michigan. The observations gathered from both the questionnaire and the survey of literature indicate there are single adults who axe confronted with the problems under consideration in this project. Further, in observing the responses to the questionnaire items, it appears that the respondents do express confidence in the beneficial role that a well-organized, properly.structured club for single adults designed to provide them with satisfying peer-group association, might play in ministering to their needs. Confidence iii the potential beneficial role of the club was expressed in five areas: providing for the single adult\u27s need for peer-group association, lessening his loneliness, helping him better tolerate the pressures of society that he should be married, lessening his anxiety, and helping him fulfill his desire for marriage. A further examination of the responses to the questionnaire reveals that the Berrien Springs club reached its potential in three of the five stated areas. The data reveals that the club did play a beneficial role in providing the members with peer-group association, that it was an asset to those experiencing loneliness, and that it helped its members more easily tolerate social pressures. It was concluded that clubs well organized and properly structured, designed to promote peer-group association for single adults, may indeed have a potential as a form of ministry to single adults who may also experience similar problems to those considered in the project