In 2018, The Rev Dr Dani Treweek was in the middle of her doctoral research on Christian singleness when she pulled together a small team to run a one-off conference on the topic.

“We decided to call it Single Minded,” she recalls. “There were no long-term aspirations – just a conviction that this was a biblical conversation that was long overdue. We sold out of tickets in the early-bird period!”

Over the next eight years Single Minded grew into a small but vibrant parachurch ministry. Dr Treweek oversaw all aspects of its operation, supported by a dedicated governing board. Over time they held dozens of events and webinars across Australia and beyond, built a resource library, launched a podcast and fostered a growing community.

In addition, the publication resulting from Dr Treweek’s thesis (The Meaning of Singleness) won Australian Christian Book of the Year in 2024, she published her popular-level book (Single Ever After) in 2025 and was in increasing demand as a speaker as all the issues raised by Single Minded reached a growing audience.

The ministry had a small group of committed financial partners, but by necessity the work needed to be done on the smell of an oily rag. So, among other things, Dr Treweek was an executive director without an appropriate salary. All those involved with the ministry knew this was not a long-term solution.

“About 12 months ago, we reached a crossroads,” she says. “Had Single Minded served its purpose? Or might this be the moment to not simply continue, but begin writing an exciting next chapter? We knew that doing the latter would involve significant growth and change, including a substantial and sustainable increase in financial support to afford a full-time executive director.”

At the same time, she and the governing board had come to realise that while the ministry’s focus was singleness, “for years our ministry had consistently extended beyond it – into conversations about friendship, marriage, loneliness, sexuality, church community, family and more.”

“These were not distractions to our mission. They flowed out of the conviction that Christian singleness cannot and should not be understood in isolation. From the beginning, Single Minded has been committed to the truth that the gospel reshapes the relational life of the single disciple. But if that is true – and it is! – then it applies not just to single Christians in their singleness, but to all Christians across all of our relationships.”

After much prayer and consultation, those behind the ministry concluded that right choice was to take a faithful step forward in serving God and his people. So, next month, Single Minded will become Cross Related, with the tagline “Real Relationships, Shaped by Jesus”. “This is not a move away from singleness, but a reframing of it within a broader ministry vision,” Dr Treweek says. “We will continue to address singleness – for example, this year we will be running workshops in Melbourne and Sydney exploring how the Bible speaks into the question of single Christians using IVF – but as part of a bigger discussion about how we are called to very intentionally love all others as Christ has loved us.”

“Cross Related will seek to equip Christians and churches to live out relationships shaped distinctively by the gospel in a confusing and weary world. Our vision is for the church to embody relationships that honour Christ, build up his people, and offer a compelling witness to the world.”

The committee and I are so excited about this next season of ministry. But we know this isn’t something we can – or want to – do alone. And so, we’re praying that God will lead many others to partner with Cross Related, in a whole range of ways, as together we grow in our understanding of how Jesus profoundly shapes the relational lives of his people.

The ministry’s new chapter will officially be launched at an event on June 17, at Village Church in Annandale, with international speaker Dr Alastair Roberts looking at how the Cross not only reconciles us to God, but bridges the relational divides the world uses to separate us from each other, calling God’s people into a new life together.

For more information, see https://singleminded.community/

Feature Photo: Dani Treweek at the first conference in 2018