Thread by @HollyStallcup

Well, here we go. If you are a progressive or moderate Christian, it is going to be easy to write off this article because it's from The Gospel Coalition and you disagree with all of their content. This article may be more relevant than you want it to be. thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-de…

Yes, I am about to pull apart this article, but buckle up because your more progressive spaces may be quietly, without even knowing it, holding some of the same theology that brings the author to his conclusions.

I'll leave the "family is more important than politics" analysis to @KaitlynSchiess. Suffice it to say, families influence politics and politics influence families, and it is only PRIVILEGE that allows us to say kids not politics is where our focus should be.

So here is the good news. Mr. DeYoung did not allow the word "fecund" to be used in it's fullness in his article.

We can all be fecund!

fecund- producing or capable of producing an abundance of offspring or new growth; fertile

We shall use "fruitful" for the rest of this thread because no one uses the word fecund.

What does it mean to be fruitful in the Kingdom of God? Well right off the bat I can tell you raising children is just one of about a million ways. A way that I value and am glad exists.

But parenting is not the ultimate fruitfulness.

I daresay sometimes a hyper-focused approach to parenting, as Mr. DeYoung suggests, causes parents, but especially women, to miss the Spirit's call to fruitfulness outside of child rearing.

I am not interested in "winning the culture war", so let's focus on "renewing the city".

What renews the city? Public education. Know who some of the most committed teachers are? The childless.

What renews the city? Non-profits. Know who some of the most dedicated volunteers are? The childless.

What renews the city? Medical professionals with time and capacity. Know who some of the most available and caring medical professional are? The childless.

I could go on and on like this. Though the single and childless may not be seen, they are the backbones of communities across the U.S. If the family is the cornerstone of society, the single and childless are every other damn brick.

Am I angry? You bet. Because theology like this dishonors the image of God on millions of human beings, it reduces women to their ability to bear babies and men to their ability to find someone to impregnate. The entire premise dehumanizes parents and children.

Even more so it dehumanizes those without children, the single, the infertile, the married who have chosen to give their lives elsewhere.

Mr. DeYoung shows, what so many Christians believe, that until you have a nuclear family you are of no use & you have no place in the Church.

But Mr. DeYoung is wrong. I am not here to debate or convince you that the single and childless are equally fruit bearing members of the Kingdom of God.

That was settled when God himself came in the form of a single childless man.

If you cannot see that, you, like Mr. DeYoung need to decenter your family and other families around you and open your eyes to all of the people renewing your city. Please.

The nuclear family is not the cornerstone of the Church. Again that is Jesus, the single childless man.

So wonderful news, the future belongs to me, a childless woman who does not expect to have kids! I am fecund!

I am bearing fruit not in spite of my childlessness but because of it! I am able to bear specific fruit in the Kingdom of God that I couldn't if I had children.

I started to list out all of the fruit my childlessness is bearing, but I should not have to give a bullet pointed account to be seen as a full member of the Body of Christ. I am here, doing my fruitful work, whether you think it helps or matters.

You want to see the Kingdom of God realized here on earth?

Unfocus on the family.

That's my pitch that I would bet money on.

Do you want to rebel against the status quo?

Live in houses with more than your nuclear family. Hire single senior pastors. Share bank accounts with people who don't have your last name. Have Thanksgiving with people you aren't related to. Preach a series on singleness.

Do you want people to ask you for a reason for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15)?

Tell them about how you aren't raising your kids alone, and that's why you have time to care for yourself. Tell them about how you are single but still have a family that is all in on you.

I am not a womb waiting to witness.

My single childlessness IS my witness.

I am rebelling, not only against our culture's status quo but against the Church itself. A Church that is unrepentant in it's idolatry of the nuclear family. My very life is a witness to the Church.

There is hope within me that people take note of, because I am choosing to stay with Jesus no matter how His Church dismisses or ignores me. There is hope in me that people take note of, because I will not be silent or defeated in my convictions about the value of my life.

Let me try to wrap this up (said in preacher voice).

It is easy to look at the very conservative church that TGC comes out of and scoff at them, thinking we are so much more enlightened. And there is no doubt that some churches are safer than others for the single and childless.

But here is the thing, even in the most progressive of spaces single and childless people continue to be marginalized. The status quo is the nuclear family, and we go with the status quo until we intentionally invest in something new.

Because we are finite creatures with finite resources, often investing means divesting first.

If we want to not only honor the single & childless, but enjoy the fullness of who they are we have to make room, we have to give some things up, we have to divest.

So how is your church divesting from focus on the family?

How is your family divesting from focus on the family?

How is your bank account divesting from focus on the family?

How is your community group divesting from focus on the family?

We are here waiting. Our lives are full and beautiful and challenging and fruitful. We are living now, and would love for you to join us.