The discourse and practice within Christian communities that aggressively steers single adults toward the direction of marriage and children has proliferated for centuries. Communities of faith have cultivated a cultural ethos that tacitly communicates the attainment of marriage as a form of personal growth, spiritual progression, and an entering into a higher more respectable status and rank in life. This has sadly relegated single adults of a particular age as, “least among the clan”. Thankfully, the character of the “least” (Rahab, Gideon, Ruth, Paul, Jesus just to name a few) is scattered across Scripture as vessels for God’s glorious and mighty deeds. The goal of this class is to honestly discuss this notion of the “least among the clan”, the ways we internalize these messages, the manner in which some have sought to upgrade their status, and the transformative lessons we might glean from the “leasts” in Scripture.

Sherie Gayle is a Women’s Ministry Leader in the Greater Baltimore Church in Baltimore Maryland. She has a Master of Theological Studies degree from Loyola University Maryland and is completing her first year of doctoral coursework in Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University. Sherie’s research interests center religion and gender within a Christian and Islamic comparative framework.