How Pastors and Church Leaders (Predominantly Male) are Failing to Meet the Needs of Single Mothers

Published on October 8, 2023

On a regular basis, I sit in church and listen to pastors and church leaders talk about marriage and marriage conferences. I hear them talk about how Satan is after your marriage, how Satan is after your children. I wholeheartedly agree that Satan is after our children, and you know who are the children most vulnerable and susceptible to Satan's attack? Children of single mothers.

They are vulnerable, and Satan knows they are an easy target because so many (millions) do not have an earthly father to take his rightful place and cover them. Neither does the church cover them and from my perspective, single mothers (and I am one) and their children are open game for the enemy and his attacks, and what grieves me is that Satan has so distracted and deceived the church leadership (predominantly male) that they are totally oblivious to his tactics of destruction.

Here are some questions for pastors and church leaders:

  1. When was the last time you publicly addressed the needs of the single mothers (divorced and never married) in your church - many of whom, according to Jim Daly of Focus on the Family: "have been abandoned and forced into single parenthood."
  2. When was the last time you addressed the children of single mothers and publicly declared that God is not pleased with earthly fathers who abandon their children?
  3. How do you address their needs?
  4. What are you doing to encourage single mothers and their children to flourish in the state they are in?


If you are not doing anything, how do you explain that you are not meeting the needs of what is probably a significant and vulnerable population in your church? Single mothers and their children.

How do you explain that?


To learn ways to support your members who are single mothers, read my other blog: 5 Ways Church Leaders Can Support Single Mothers.