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Jon Singletary

Jon Singletary

Associate Dean for Baccalaureate Studies
The Diana R. Garland Endowed Chair in Child and Family Studies
Director, Center for Family and Community Ministries
Phone: 254-710-4819
E-mail: Jon_Singletary@baylor.edu

"I graduated from Baylor, went off to seminary and had a fire in my belly to work with churches in our vocation to do justice. It was about halfway through seminary that someone told me I should really look into social work if I wanted to pursue justice. I was taken aback. I ended up falling in love with social work, but I struggled to understand how churches were called to just living and yet secular social work education was the place where the skills and values for being this kind of change agent were being taught and practiced."

"It was in this context that my sense of calling felt confirmed. I knew there was a place for me in educating leaders to help churches work for justice in their communities and around the world. And, the Baylor School of Social Work and our Center for Family and Community Ministries provide just these kinds of opportunities."


Education

Ph.D., Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work
M.S.W., Virginia Commonwealth University
M.Div., Baptist Theological Seminary
Visiting Student Fellow, Oxford University Regent's Park College
B.A., Baylor University
Full Curriculum Vita

Selected Publications

  • Singletary, J. (2009). The emergent journey of church-based program planning. Social Work and Christianity.
  • Singletary, J. (2009). A proposal for a multiparadigmatic approach to Judeo-Christian religion in social work education. Advances in Social Work.
  • Singletary, J. (2007). Community and Family Models of Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children. Social Work and Christianity 34 (3), 298-316.
  • Garland, D., Singletary, J., Sherr, M., & Dennison, A. (2007). How we care for children congregation-based and other private and public childcare programs. Family & Community Ministries (22)1, 6-16.
  • Garland, D., Singletary, J., Sherr, M., & Dennison, A. (2007). How we care for children congregation-based and other private and public childcare programs. Family & Community Ministries (22)1, 6-16.
  • Garland, D., & Singletary, J. (2008). Congregations as settings for early childhood education. Early Childhood Service: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Effectiveness (2)2, 111-128.
  • Netting, F. E., O'Connor, M. K., Singletary, J. E. (2007). Finding Homes for their dreams: Strategies founders and program initiators use to position faith-based programs. Families in Society, 88(1), 19-29.
  • Sherr, M., Singletary, J., & Rogers, R. (in press). Innovative Service or Proselytizing: Exploring When Service Delivery Becomes a Platform for Unwanted Religious Persuasion. Social Work.

Research Interests

  • Strengthening Congregational Community Ministries
  • Community Development
  • Advocacy and Social Justice

Background

Dr. Jon E. Singletary joined the faculty in 2003 after completing his Ph.D. at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he taught social work planning and administration. Singletary is co-director of the Strengthening Congregational Community Ministries Project. He has served as co-director of the Faith and Service Technical Education Network (www.FASTENnetwork.org).

Before coming to Baylor, Dr. Singletary served as pastor of a Mennonite congregation in Richmond, Va. While serving as pastor, he worked with his congregation to organize a coalition to support nonviolent initiatives in the local community. Before serving as pastor, he worked as a community organizer for an agency providing healthcare to people who were homeless and for a Catholic community settlement house.

Dr. Singletary is married to Wendi Elysse (Washington) Singletary and the couple has three sons, Haden (2000), Harper (2002), Abbott (2006), and a daughter Ainsley (2006).