A former homeless and severely abused single mother Jennifer Maggio served as encouragement by founding a multi-church ministry that caters to many single mothers.
Now the founder of The Life of a Single Mom, Maggio recounted her past story of receiving a call from God on helping out other struggling single mothers in the early 2000s. According to her, the multi-church ministry started from a bible study group of single mothers that she led in 2007 in her hope "to see that no single mom walks alone."
"As a former single mother who laid on a bathroom floor in government housing and contemplated taking my own life at 19-years-old, I know how dark it can get. I also know how hard the journey back into a local church can be, even for a lifetime church girl," Maggio detailed in an interview with The Christian Post.
"My personal story is one of God's redemption and grace, but it was a long and winding road. It allowed me to see the need to establish single moms' groups in churches and teach churches how to minister effectively to these families," she said.
To mark the National Today Calendar's National Single Parent Day on Monday, she encouraged churches to identify the problems single parents are facing today. As for her, single mothers in America have an extreme need for ministry services.
The report mentioned the U.S. Census Bureau from Statista, based on the data, "About 15.31 million children were living with a single mother in the United States in 2020." The 2019 Pew Research Study found out that "The United States has the world's largest Christian population but about a quarter of children live in single-parent homes."
"We are in an all-out crisis in the United States in terms of fatherlessness, and the data is overwhelming that these families are facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles," Maggio said implying the Pew study.
Maggio called out to the American Churches regarding the spiritual needs of single mothers. "The spiritual needs of single mothers include: overcoming abuse, battling bitterness, stress management, forgiveness, healing from past pain, and so much more," she said.
She emphasized the importance of counseling in the process of healing. "Many are dealing with trauma, such as divorce or death, or loss of a relationship. But as they evolve from that portion of their experience. There are survival tools, such as parenting, money management, and life balance. The important thing is to walk each mom through her journey with Christ as the firm foundation," she added.
Based on the report, other ministries like New Commandment Men's Ministries are helping Maggio's ministry with the same goal of helping single mothers. Founded by former Pastor Herb Reese in Illinois, the ministry started as a group of 16 men who help churches widows, widowers, single parents, and fatherless children.
"The fatherless children are helped immediately when that team shows up for that single mom because that team is providing adult Christian male role models for that home, which is lacking in adult males," Reese said.
