• Christian Dating Sites Reviews

• by Stephen W. Simpson, PhDCopyright Christianity Today International
• 20193 Oct

. Contact: Stephen Hill stephenjhill8@gmail.com. Official Billboard Chart - Christian National Airplay: http://bit.ly/2bCM2kB. Top ten christian dating sites - Men looking for a man - Women looking for a woman. Is the number one destination for online dating with more relationships than any other dating or personals site. Rich man looking for older man & younger man. I'm laid back and get along with everyone. Looking for an old soul like myself. Top 10 Places to Meet Christian Singles In Dating, Relationships by Debra Fileta November 10, 2014 While that might sound a little creepy considering I’m happily married, the reason is that I’ve been getting bombarded with questions from my single readers about this very subject.

CMatch is a faith-based Christian dating site that believes in maintaining Biblical values. The site is owned by Christians who work with strict values. The site was launched in 2006 and till now it has helped over 130,000 singles in finding their match online. It is one of the best free Christian dating sites. Many couples have had complete success with online dating sites and are now in happy situations with some having found lasting love and a happy marriage. Below is a list of the top ten Christian dating sites on the Internet today, so browse the sites and enjoy registering and you never know, before long you too could have met your perfect.

There are some myths out there that people assume to be gospel about dating, especially among Christians. Christian culture is like any other in that we develop truisms that we accept without verifying. There are 'Christian dating' ideas floating around that have little or nothing to do with the Bible.

Most are well intended and contain a nugget of truth. Some are flat-out wrong. Dating is hard enough without sifting through all this erroneous information, so let's debunk some myths around Christian dating. There are plenty of them, but let's focus on what I believe are the top five myths that make dating harder for Christian singles.

Christian Dating Myth #1: 'God has one woman and one man picked out for you to marry. You are destined to be with that one person, and God will guide you to her or him.'

Good luck finding this one in the Bible. There is plenty of stuff about God's will for his people, God wanting good things for you, and God's ultimate plan. Nowhere, however, does it say that God picked out a spunky brunette whom he's waiting to spring on you at the right moment. I'm not saying that he doesn't. When it comes to God, I'm pretty careful about saying what he does or doesn't do. But I do know this— if you rely on this idea too much, your dating life will get really confusing.

Some Christians take a lot of comfort in the idea that God will do the heavy lifting when it comes to dating. God will tell them if a relationship is right, and God will end it if it's not. All they have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride. This may be the biggest excuse men use for being lazy in relationships, much less finding one.

German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer addresses this issue in a wedding sermon he wrote for his sister from a Nazi jail cell. He says that God joins the relationship between a man and a woman at the point of marriage. Before that, the couple has to take the initiative.

Rather than directing the course of the relationship, God wants the couple to grow and learn how to make a commitment. Once they've done that, God increases his sustaining presence.

I'm not saying that God doesn't have a will regarding your dating life. God may, in fact, have a spunky brunette in mind, and he's steering you toward her as you read this. But the Bible does not promise that God will provide a loving relationship for you while you sit around and do nothing.

But, as in all things, it's best to ask for his guidance. The Bible promises he will provide that whenever we ask. Rely on God's love, wisdom, and sustaining presence while you're dating. Though God won't do all the work for you, he'll be with you every step of the way.

The good news is that most men don't have a problem with this. Regardless of your theology on the Predestination of Girlfriends, you're probably eager to be an active participant in your dating life. This brings us to our next myth.

Christian Dating Myth #2: 'The Bible has clearly defined guidelines for dating.'

People didn't date in biblical times, there is no such thing as 'Biblical Dating'. Dating as a socially accepted means of finding a mate has been around for less than a century. Before that, strict courtship rituals governed the path to marriage. Whom you married wasn't even up to you most of the time.

Falling in love before you got married or engaged is a twentieth-century concept. Dating as we know it occurred after marriage. In college, I had an older professor from Japan whose marriage had been arranged. He made fun of modern dating, saying, 'By the time you get married now, the fun is over. In an arranged marriage, the fun starts after the wedding!' (No, that wasn't a suggestion for you to set up an arranged marriage.)

For the Hebrews and the early church, dating wasn't an issue to be addressed in Scripture. Sex and marriage were, but not dating. When the Bible was written, a person basically had one of three options: remaining single, an immoral life with multiple partners or prostitutes, or an arranged marriage.

There were courtship rituals in place, but nothing that looks like what we consider dating today.

The church has reached a difficult crossroads when it comes to pre-marriage romance. We no longer have rituals of courtship and arranged marriage to guide us every step of the way. This leaves a lot of room for error. It's also spawned a whole range of opinions and advice on how to handle dating. One glance at the numerous books about love, dating, and marriage suggests that we're making a lot of this up as we go along.

Of course, there are biblical principles that are essential to dating. If you follow the biblical prescriptions for gentleness, respect, sexual purity, and kindness (Gal. 5:19-23), you are bound to make much better decisions in dating situations. Your head and your heart should be in Scripture at all times, but you won't find specific guidelines for dating. Is it okay to kiss before marriage? The answer isn't in the Bible (though the Song of Solomon sure gives us a clue).

How about going out on dates alone? Nope, not in there either. The Bible provides some crucial relational principles but doesn't address the specifics.

This requires more decision-making on your part. You can't follow antiquated courtship rituals anymore. (At least I don't advise it. Asking a woman's father if you can date his daughter without consulting her first might be a good way to never get a first date.)

You also don't have a scriptural field manual that tells you how to behave in every situation. It's up to you to be in prayer and conversation with your Christian community about these things. You're going to have to think, talk, pray, and be ready to make some mistakes. Speaking of mistakes, let's look at our next myth.

Christian Dating Myth #3: 'God will reveal to you the man or woman that you are going to marry the instant you meet him or her.'

If this is true, I screwed up somewhere. I thought my wife was out of my league when I met her. We had a nice conversation, but I left thinking that she wouldn't go out with a guy like me. Regardless, I didn't get a divine telegram saying, 'She's the one! Start picking out china patterns!'

Waiting for God to whack you on the head and tell you whom to marry isn't faith; it's fear. Many people want nothing to do with dating because of the risk and potential pain that it involves. This is certainly understandable, as dating can have traumatic results in unhealthy circumstances. But what do you think serves us better in the long run? Growing and suffering in the process of learning or a revelation that lets us off the hook?

I would have loved to know that the beautiful woman I was talking to would one day be my wife, but I might not have worked as hard to earn her hand in marriage. I would have missed a lot of experiences that made me a better man.

Be careful if you think God has told you that Betty from the bookstore is the one for you, but you have no idea if she feels the same way. If you plunge in, convinced that you are on a mission from God, and she's not sure yet, it's a quick way to scare her off. Our unconscious mind can kick up powerful feelings that sometimes get mistaken for a message from God.

Maybe she was nicer to you than anyone you've met in a long time. Maybe she's the first woman you ever met that likes Cracker Jacks as much as you do. Or maybe she's just drop-dead gorgeous. Of course, a woman who's nice, white-hot cute, and likes Cracker Jacks might be someone you want to ask on a date. I just wouldn't go ring shopping yet. Especially if you want a second date.

Christian Dating Myth #4: 'You have to be friends with a man or woman before you can date.'

This is the point where I might tick off some of you, so allow me to assuage your anger before I explain this myth. I am not saying that you cannot or should not be friends before dating. I'm also not talking about a man and a woman who are interested in each other and agree to be friends for a period before dating.

Some of the most successful relationships begin in friendship. Sometimes you don't even know you want to date someone until you are friends with her. I've met couples who were friends for years and then fell in love. It's a super way to start a relationship. The problem is that a lot of men think the best way to pursue a woman is to befriend her while hiding their interest in dating her. This is a rotten idea and sets a lot of men up for trouble.

Tommy was a client of mine who tried this approach. He had been interested in a woman at his church for a few months, but he was terrified of rejection. So he made his best effort to become her friend, never letting on that he wanted to be her boyfriend. He gave her rides to church, had coffee with her, and talked to her on the phone two or three times a week. Whenever she needed help or support, Tommy was there.

But he never asked her out. Then another man in the church asked her out, and she accepted. When she shared the news with Tommy, he was devastated. He told her about his true feelings, and she was shocked. She was hurt that he didn't tell her sooner and expressed regret that he'd never asked her out. However, she refused to back out of the date with the other guy. It proved the end of their friendship, and Tommy retreated into frustration and despair.

You have to be honest about what you're doing. Don't kid yourself and don't lie to her. Be friends all you want, but if you want to date her, she needs to know and you need to ask her out.

Some people distinguish 'dating' from 'friendship' based on one thing: physical intimacy. More specifically, kissing. A man and a woman who are interested in each other remain 'friends' by going out only on group dates and refraining from intimate contact of any description. Apparently, this means they aren't dating. Whatever.

Friendship and dating are categorically different. Of course, you must be friends with the person you date, but there's much more to it. The emotional 'heat' that occurs between people in a romantic relationship is both more exhilarating and more complicated than friendship.

People have higher expectations for someone they're considering for marriage. Friendship cannot contain the emotions, intensity, and intimacy that dating does. If you and a woman are hot for each other, you aren't 'just friends.' I don't care if you go out on dates alone or with the whole church choir.

It also doesn't matter if you wear a HAZMAT suit and stay ten feet away from her at all times. If romance is the goal of a man and woman's relationship, they are dating. Confuse it with friendship at your peril.

Christian Dating Myth #5: 'A man's sexuality is a ravenous, snarling beast that should be kept in a cage until he's married.'

I admit I've never heard it put that way, but the implication is out there. Any lecture or book on dating inevitably includes something about sex (and, yes, this one does too). Frequently, the message is 'Control yourself! Your sex drive is out to get you! It's just waiting for one weak moment to jump out and turn you into a nymphomaniac and demolish your soul.'

And then we wonder why so many Christians end up with sexual problems, both before and after marriage.

The Bible tells us to save sex for marriage (1Cor. 7:2). That's crucial. But you knew that already. The problem is we tend to emphasize this prohibition and leave it at that. No one talks about sexuality before marriage because sex before marriage is bad.

This leaves us with a small problem. Our sexuality is part of who we are from the moment we're born. If you take away a man's sexuality, you take away his identity. Your sexuality will be there, playing an active role, from the moment you ask a woman out.

In fact, without sexuality, men wouldn't date. They'd play video games and eat pizza. Our sexuality is what gets us interested in women in the first place, and that's a good thing.

Did you think God gave you a sex drive just to torture you until you got married? There are plenty of things God does that I don't understand, but he's not cruel.

Many people confuse sexual drives with sinful desires. Though sexual drives, like all drives, can become sinful, they're holy in their raw state. Yes, I said holy. Your sex drive comes from God. If you don't think that makes it holy, take it up with him.

The trick we have to pull off is holy, healthy expression of our sexuality before marriage. It's not easy, but it can be done. It will look different for different people, but it needs to be expressed. Otherwise, it will force its way out.

Look at the crisis of Internet pornography running rampant through the church. Men are dying for a way to embrace and express their sex drives. You can't ignore your sexuality, and you can't white-knuckle your way through life until your wedding night. Your sexuality isn't bad. It's not sinful or dirty. It's a gift from God, and we need to figure out a way to embrace that gift before marriage.

Excerpted from What Women Wish You Knew About Dating: A Single Guy's Guide to Romantic Relationships. Used by permission of Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, copyright ©2008. All rights to this material are reserved. Materials are not to be distributed to other web locations for retrieval, published in other media, or mirrored at other sites without written permission from Baker Publishing Group.http://www.BakerPublishingGroup.com

Main photo by ©Unsplash/RawPixel

Technology has come with many perks, and that includes finding lifetime partners with just a click on your screen. Dating sites have become popular in the last decade, making it easy for people to mingle and search for soulmates from anywhere in the world. Everyone who gets online to look for love has their preference. The advantage of online dating is that it does not lock anyone out as there are millions to be matched to. Christian dating sites are popular and loved by religious folk who look for partners that share the same beliefs as them.

Due to the popularity, demand, and tools found in online dating communities, some dating sites charge exorbitant fees for members to enjoy exclusive features as they connect with others. This, however, does not stop those that are determined to find love and friendships online. Different sites have different prices and experiences.

10 free Christian dating sites

There is a wide pool of sites one can choose from based on one’s interest. The beauty of using them is the surety of meeting a believer who you may settle with and even start a family. The following are some of the most popular Christian dating sites in Kenya and around the world.

1. Crosspaths

Crosspaths is one of the top Christian dating sites with successful relationships that started on the internet. The tools on the dating site will easily analyze thousands of profiles and help you make the right connection. It uses swipe technology for checking out a person’s profile and is friendly to users of all ages.

2. Christian Café

Once you create your free trial profile on Christian Café, you can connect and link up with Christians in your area who are looking for partners. The site also helps you with your spirituality. Members are encouraged to post scriptures and prayers that other users can see.

You can also share your testimony or any other thing that has happened to you as a follower of Christ. Christian Café is open to Christians of all denominations. It, however, only allows the free trial to run for up to 10 days. After 10 days, a user has to upgrade to a Café membership plan to share phone numbers and addresses.

3. OurTime

OurTime is a great born-again Christian dating site for senior citizens, especially those that are in their 50s or older. The site does not solely focus on old people but prioritizes them when matchmaking. Although it is a Christian dating site, it welcomes people from different religious backgrounds.

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Source: UGC

4. Christian Connection

Christian Connection is one of the most recognized Christian dating sites in Europe and America. The site has won multiple awards and thus keeps attracting more members. Signing up to this site means you are going to be treated to high standards.

The site was first created in 2000 and has been active since then. It also offers relationship counselling and guidance for its members. To enjoy all the features, you have to switch from the free trial to the membership at least three days after you have signed up.

5. Christian Cupid

What makes Christian Cupid special? You can get a soul mate, a friend or even a pen-pal through this site. The match-making site has exciting messaging features that will help you get the ideal partner you are looking for.

Christian Cupid has a limited trial period (three months) where users can access platinum membership while still using the free trial. The only downside to this site is the cost of upgrading to platinum which might be expensive for some users. You have to part with $29.98 per month to receive their services.

6. Match

Match may be a Christian dating site but it encourages users from all backgrounds to sign up and meet their potential partners. The diversity welcomed on Match makes it one of the best sites to use when looking for a lover and even a life partner. You can find users that are Jewish, Muslim, Asian, gay, or other backgrounds that are not common on Christian sites.

The site does not discriminate and will help you get someone who shares the same interest as you. Match may not be a favourite among religious folk who are looking for staunch Christians as the site consists of every character.

7. Christian Dating For Free (CDFF)

Christian Dating For Free is one of the most popular Christian dating sites for people who may not be able to afford the sometimes pricey charges paid in other sites. The free Christian dating site has zero trial period and allows members to communicate with any member in the world.

This gives users a better advantage to connect with more people without restrictions. The con to this site, however, is the ads that pop up everywhere. This can be annoying for users, though members can request for the removal of the ads by changing their status to Elevate membership; which technically makes this site, not 100% free.

8. Christian Mingle

Christian Mingle is perhaps the most popular site in the world today. IT customizes your connections helping you easily narrow down the partners you want. The site prides itself in creating God-centered relationships for believers.

They have exceptional tools that can help you communicate with your potential and make the best free Christian dating site long-lasting connections. Their personalized features and other tools are user friendly and advanced. You, however, have to be of the Christian faith to meet your match.

9. Eharmony

Eharmony is one of the pioneer dating sites to use a scientific approach to matching highly like-minded soulmates. The site's matching criteria is based on using its 29 DIMENSIONS® model. This is a measure of compatibility found in numerous fruitful relationships.

The site was created by a clinical psychologist and Christian theologian who had been married for 35 years at the time. Their style of connecting people on 29 dimensions is commendable as it ensures that potential partners have their most compatible match. The filling of the questionnaire when signing up may, however, be too overwhelming for some users.

10. Zoosk

Zoosk uses behavioural matchmaking technology to link up people who seem to share common interests. The site has about 40 million members who have successfully or are trying to get life partners. Zoosk’s technology goes through the over 40 million profiles looking for specific traits between potential soulmates.

Zoosk is one of the most popular platforms in mobile dating and welcomes both religious and non-religious folk who are looking for Christian partners. One can also get relationship advice when they are conflicted on what to do.

While the Christian dating sites have saved many from the hassle of looking for like-minded partners, some argue that exclusively seeking a Christian as a soulmate may make someone miss the love of their life. Your soul mate may have everything you want except being religious. Faith is however important to many and that is why when settling down, some people have to question the religious background of their potential partners.

Tuko.co.ke published the differences between a working relationship and a personal relationship. Working relationships are links formed between workmates, a boss and an employee. A great example of a working relationship in the learning environment is one between a student and a teacher.

Personal relationships are those between individuals with close emotional bonds and interactions. It is what you have with your family members and your spouse. However, it is integral to know that relationships are continuously evolving. To understand the entire concept, you ought to have a dynamic perspective.

Christian Dating Sites Reviews