Church to consider experience of being single

A report by the Church of Scotland's Mission and Discipleship’s Human Sexuality Working Group is to explore the experience of being single both within the church and society.

The report to be presented to the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly in May asks what it means to be single in today’s church and what the reality and presence of singletons means for the church. The group also considers what single people and their lives tell us about God.

A spokesperson for the Church said the report was "more descriptive rather than prescriptive" in regards to the lives of single people, and "cannot pretend to be exhaustive or definitive".

He said, however, that the report encourages the Church to take up the opportunity to reflect on these issues and how they impact upon belief and practice.

Singleness has never been the focus of a report to the General Assembly, but in recent years it has been addressed in the context of related subjects, including celibacy and same-sex relationships.

Being single has also seldom been a subject for theological discussion in the Reformed Church. The Church said that in eliciting responses on questions of singleness from single people, some questioned the need for any particular focus on singles within Christian theology or church life.

The Church spokesperson added: "But others have welcomed the approach of the report which has been offered with the conviction that a study of singleness is necessary."