Nurturing Through the Lifecycle

That's the title of one of my classes this quarter.  I wasn't super-excited to take the course, but since I needed a spiritual formation credit, this was my option.

The class has actually been very interesting.  The readings have dealt with human development, family formation and other issues that speak to my current plans.  I am surprised how well the topics dovetail with my foster care classes and my readings on international adoption.

One issue I read about today was the place of singles in churches.  The author noted that churches are composed of "traditional" families or people who used to be part of traditional families (ie empty-nesters or widow/ers), thus the church is not addressing the needs or  desires of  non-traditional families including singles, single parents, couples w/o kids etc.

There is little question in my mind that this problem exists.  The question is how should the church address it while still affirming families?