The Future is Cross Related

For the past decade, much of my ministry life has been caught up with one particular question:

What does the gospel have to say about singleness?

Alongside my own doctoral research, writing, speaking, and theological work, that question gave rise to a Christian resourcing ministry I founded called Single Minded. What began in 2018 as a one-off conference slowly grew into an ongoing ministry of events, podcasts, articles, resources, and a community centred on helping Christians and churches think more biblically, pastorally, and hopefully about singleness in light of the gospel.

Over the past eight years, we have run more than 35 events, featuring 60+ speakers and panellists, with more than 6300 people attending from 21 countries. Not bad for a start-up Aussie parachurch ministry!

Recovering a deeply theological vision of singleness was the central aim of my work and of the ministry Single Minded more broadly. But along the way, something else has become increasingly clear to me.

You see, the more I thought, wrote and spoke about singleness, the more I realised that thinking, writing and speaking about singleness is never just thinking, writing and speaking about singleness alone.

It is also thinking, writing and speaking about marriage. Friendship. Family. Sex. Desire. Hospitality. Church membership. Loneliness. Vocation. Embodiment. Men and women. Generations. Households. Dying to self. Loving others sacrificially. And more.

In other words, it is about the relational life of the Christian disciple.

Even more specifically, it’s about how the gospel reshapes the relational life of the Christian disciple.

We are living in a cultural moment deeply marked by relational confusion and relational exhaustion. Marriage is confused and confusing. Singleness is confused and confusing. Sexuality is confused and confusing. Friendship is confused and confusing. Family is confused and confusing. Even the basic question of what human relationships are for often feels uncertain and contested.

In response, Christians can be tempted to react impulsively. We can instinctively define ourselves by what we oppose rather than by whom we are united to. We can too easily become consumed by culture wars, defensive postures, tribal demarcation and boundary-marking exercises.

Put another way, without us even realising it, our vision for Christian relational discipleship can quietly become shaped more by opposition to the world than by Jesus himself.

The New Testament calls the church to something deeper than mere reaction. Romans 12:2 famously urges Christians not to be conformed to the patterns of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. I think that distinction matters enormously.

Christians are not simply called to resist the world’s patterns of relationships, but to become a genuinely distinct family of people whose relational lives are intentionally and proactively transformed by the mercies of God to us in Christ.

Put another way, the gospel does not merely give us a list of ethical positions to defend. It gives us an entirely new vision of what it means to be human. It teaches us who we are, whose we are, what our bodies are for, how we belong to one another, and what kind of future we are together moving towards in Christ.

I have become increasingly convinced that, in this present moment, the church urgently needs richer theological resources to faithfully understand and intentionally inhabit that vision together.

That is why I’m very excited to share that on June 17, Single Minded will officially embark on a new season of ministry under the name…

Cross Related.

(The video above contains a brief introduction to the how, what and why of Cross Related)

Cross Related is not a departure from the work of Single Minded. Rather, it is its natural maturation.

Everything we have learned over the years about singleness—its goodness, its complexity, its griefs, its gifts, its place within the life of the church and most especially how the gospel sits at the very centre of it—is coming with us. Singleness will remain a vital part of Cross Related’s ministry and theological vision.

But it will now sit within a broader framework focused on helping Christians and churches think about the whole of our relational lives in light of the gospel.

Cross Related’s mission is to equip Christians and churches for relationships distinctively shaped by the gospel in this confusing and weary world.

The church needs a deeper theological account of friendship. A deeper theological account of family. A deeper theological account of intimacy, embodiment, sacrifice, hospitality, dependence, spiritual kinship, and belonging.

We need richer theological instincts for how men and women relate to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. We need churches that genuinely function as households of faith rather than collections of isolated nuclear families and individuals who share a building once a week.

And perhaps most importantly, we need these conversations to be shaped by the centre of the Christian story: not self-actualisation, autonomy, romantic fulfilment, identity construction, the pursuit of happiness, society rescue… but the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The cross not only announces the forgiveness of our sins. It also teaches us what love looks like.

That is what we want to explore together in Cross Related

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This transition also marks a significant new chapter for me personally.

For many years, Single Minded has largely operated alongside my other writing, speaking, and theological work, often in ways that stretched my time, energy, capacity, and finances very thin. But as the ministry continued to grow, it became increasingly clear that if this work was going to continue sustainably — let alone deepen and expand — it would require a more intentional and properly resourced foundation for the future.

And so, I will be stepping into a full-time role as the executive director of Cross Related. In the months ahead, I’ll share more about what that will look like and the kinds of partnership and support that will help make it possible.

But for now, I simply wanted to introduce you to the vision itself and to encourage you to take two next steps to help us begin to write this next chapter:

1. BE PART OF OUR LAUNCH

On June 17, we’ll officially launch Cross Related at an event in Sydney (with livestream/playback available for those elsewhere). Theologian and writer Dr Alastair Roberts will be joining us to help think about how relationships reshaped by the gospel can honour Christ, build up his people, and offer a compelling witness to a fractured and fragile world.

We’d love to have you be part of it, whether in the room or from afar. Click the button below for more information about the event and to register.

2. SIGN UP TO OUR COMMUNITY

Although Single Minded began as a distinctly Australian ministry, our audience and community have increasingly become international. Because of that, continuing to provide accessible online events, resources, and conversations for Christians globally will remain an important part of Cross Related moving forward.

So whether you are in Sydney or somewhere much further afield, I’d love to invite you to engage with what we are building.

The first step you can take towards that is to subscribe to our newsletter using the link below.

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The opening pages of the Cross Related chapter are still being written. But I’m genuinely and prayerfully hopeful about what this ministry might become over time: a resourcing ministry that helps Christians and churches think more deeply, live more faithfully, and love one another more distinctively in light of the gospel.

Please consider this your invitation to come with me as we step into a Cross Related future.