June (Web-only) 2000

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Many committed Christian women are being forced to stay single because of the lack of eligible men within their churches, research has shown. The prospects of finding a partner get poorer with age as women increasingly outnumber men in church congregations. There are more than twice as many women as men overall in British churches, according to Lorraine Kingsley, who wrote an article,"Looking for Mr. Right," in Christianity magazine, published in the United Kingdom and linked to London's Premier Christian Radio, an Evangelical broadcaster. For 40-year-old women, the ratio of women to men is four to one; by 50 it is six to one. The article sparked wide media interest, with follow-ups in three British national newspapers and a series of radio interviews in Britain and Ireland. Kingsley told ENI:"The media interest took me by surprise. To say that women outnumber men is hardly new for church people-but perhaps the problems of single women are new to an outside audience."In the article Sue Saxon, who runs a Christian introductions agency, is quoted as saying that people who get married at 19 or 20"don't realize how difficult finding a husband can be." She said finding a partner was like selling a house."You don't just sit around praying and waiting for someone to turn up. Most people would pray about it, and then they would put their house on the market."Ian Gregory, who also runs a Christian introductions agency, said many of the Christian agencies were"utterly cringe-worthy [embarrassing] … They have become nerd or anorak magnets. You don't want to be introduced to people who are social misfits. You want to go out with Christians of similar intellect, geographical location and backgrounds."Some of the women interviewed by ...