If someone of the opposite sex asked you to pray with them during a church service, would you do it? Dani Treweek looks at why single Christian women are caricatured as threats to “good Christian marriages” while Christian men are stereotyped as incapable of relating to any woman without seeing her as a potential “stumbling block”

By my late 20s, I assumed I had already made all the friends I would ever need. It wasn’t a deliberate decision, like saying: “Sorry, I’m no longer accepting new friend applications”, but more of a quiet belief that true and lasting friendships are formed in our formative years. 

I had tried (and failed) to secure the kind of inseparable childhood best friend that seemed to come so easily to my younger sister. I had (barely) survived the drama and cliques of high school. Eventually, I found ‘my people’ at university and church, and, later, among a group of single women I studied theology with. By the end of my 20s, I believed my friendship tanks were as full as they would ever be. My job now was to maintain those tanks, ensuring they didn’t run dry, because I assumed they would need to sustain me for the rest of my life.

And then, surprise! As my 30s slipped into my 40s, I discovered it wasn’t just my existing friends who were there for me, but also a whole raft of new and unexpected friends. Older friends and younger friends. Near friends and far friends. Work friends and church friends. Female friends and male friends.

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