The unwanted gift?

Introducing our fundraising partner for 2023

At Entrust we have the twin goals of providing clear, faithful Bible teaching from women and to women in Melbourne, and to provide training to women from Melbourne and wider Victoria as they learn to teach and train other women. But we also seek to be outward looking and support women here and further afield.

This year we have a really exciting collaboration with Dani Treweek. Dani Treweek is a theologian at large living in Sydney. She has recently published a book called The Meaning of Singleness which is an academic level book stemming from her PhD. This is a really important work that seeks to understand singleness biblically and throughout church history. We are seeking to raise the funds that would allow Dani to write the popular level version of this book. Since she’s done all the research already, she’s hoping that she could knock out most of a first draft with a three week writing retreat.

Here’s a great description of what this new book seeks to expound:

From the very beginning God has been in the business of bestowing gifts. Most amazingly, of course, he's gifted us with eternal life through his Son. And yet, amongst all the gifts that our heavenly father delights in giving us, there is one that we typically eye with a little trepidation. One we're hoping might be addressed to someone other than us. One we'd like to think may come with the receipt for return or exchange. What is this one unwanted gift? It’s the gift we call "singleness". But Dani Treweek (the author of The Meaning of Singleness and director of the Single Minded Ministry) thinks the Bible teaches that the gift we consider to be unwanted, is actually good. That the gift we consider undesirable, is actually dignified. That the gift we hope is for someone else, is actually necessary for the church as a whole. With that in mind, she's setting out to write a book focused on Unwrapping the Gift of Singleness.

Dani is the founder/director of Single Minded Ministry, an organisation that seeks to develop biblical, theological and pastoral resources exploring God’s purposes for singleness that equip Christians, encourage Christian communities, and shape Christian culture.

Their vision is to see God’s purposes for singleness so wonderfully expressed in the body of Christ, that married and single Christians glorify Jesus with one voice.

They also have a really supportive FaceBook group that you may like to join

Dani has recently been on lots of podcasts promoting her book…including on remnant radio and the think biblically podcast.

You can purchase her academic level book The Meaning of Singleness from the Wandering Bookseller here.

I highly recommend subscribing to Dani’s substack (which is like a blog) at https://danielletreweek.substack.com/ to read what Dani’s currently thinking about.

You can find the donation details on page 12 of this year's booklet.

I commend this project to you,

Louisa Pfitzner

(Chair of the Entrust Committee)