Big Church
Rank 9th (Last) Place
Pros
- Well known, well advertised site
- Big community of people (362,000 total members)
- Interactive community forum and blog capabilities
- Searchable Bible verse function
- Free to become a “standard” member and review the website
Cons
- Owned by FriendFinder Networks, publisher of Penthouse Magazine
- Despite many members, lack of quality potential matches
- Many fake profiles exist
- Searching for local members is not all that easy
- Generally a “non-Christian” type feeling to the entire website
- Paid subscription necessary to communicate with other members
Price
Silver Plan:
- 1 Month, $15.99/Month
- 3 Months, $9.99/Month
Gold Plan:
- 1 Month, $19.99/Month
- 4 Months, $9.99/Month
Current Membership Specials:
- 1 Month free with a 3 Month “Gold” Membership
Editor’s Summary
We are not fans of BigChurch.com. The fact that they are owned by the same people who publish Penthouse Magazine is a non-starter for us. Furthermore, the site is generally disappointing for the type of Christian Singles who were available for communication. We are looking for genuine, intelligent people who emphasize that their faith is a big part of their life. When searching for local people in our community based upon these factors, the majority of people listed in the search did not meet these criteria.
BigChurch claims to have 362,000 members and we don’t doubt this. What we doubt is that the number of active and high quality Christian matches on this site is actually quite a bit lower than many other Christian dating websites. Stay away from BigChurch.com and check out a site with a better and more Christian community.
Quality of Community
The quality of the community is low. While it is difficult to measure by exact percentages, many of the profiles that we reviewed were fake. People with whom we interacted had completely different stories than what their profile would indicate. Some of the photos posted in member profiles were sexually suggestive—unthinkable immodesty for true Christians seeking marriage.
One of our favorite features of online dating is the ability to search by specific location. If you live in Florida, you would likely prefer to meet Christians in your home state so that there would be a more natural way to meet them. By typing in your zip code on BigChurch, you are delivered matches from across the country. You can search by state, but even then many of the matches are hundreds of miles away. Why can’t we search for people within 20 miles of our current location?
Faith and Values
BigChurch gets a big fat F in this category. The other websites of the network, including FriendFinder and AdultFriendFinder, are adult themed and sexual in nature. Finallly, they are affiliated with Penthouse Magazine. Enough said.
Value
The prices for “Silver” and “Gold” subscriptions to BigChurch.com were not unreasonable. They were in line with what you would expect to pay for a premium online dating service. The issue is one of value. We are happy to pay for a service that meets or exceeds our expectations. In the case of BigChurch, the value is not there because their website does not deliver a vibrant pool of single Christians.
