Fully 76% of Americans identified themselves as Christian in 2008. Of this population, roughly 20% attend church regularly and are defined as “committed” Christians. A recent study found that 1 in 5 new committed relationships begin as a result of online dating. What do these statistics mean for one another?
With more and more single people using online dating sites, committed Christians will be represent a significant pool of these potential daters. There are literally millions of single Christians in the U.S. who are using online dating to meet other like minded people. In cases where a mainstream site may not provide the environment that Christians of faith would prefer, a Christian dating site becomes the best choice.
What are the best places for Christian singles to go to find a vibrant community of high quality potential matches? We have reviewed and tested the top nine Christian online dating sites in the U.S. We have provided rankings based upon community size, community quality, community faith and values, and pricing to come up with our reviews. Without further ado:
Christian Mingle is the best dating site out there for singles of faith. The website is easy to use and the technology platform is the best that we reviewed. We interacted with quality Christians as a result of our membership. You want to join a Christian dating site with enough members to provide you with many high quality matches. Christian Mingle delivers on this.
We were immediately impressed by our first search for dating partners in our respective local areas. There were many high quality matches. Member profiles specifically deal with a person’s biography and their faith.
Christian Mingle is a dating site that you should consider joining, particularly given the fact that you can sign up for free and review your matches. If you think there are people worth talking to, a membership is a great investment in your dating future. Trying it for free is a great start!
ChristianCafe is a great online dating option for single Christians. We feel very comfortable recommending it to our readers and believe that it is possibly the best Christian dating site out there today. We found that the type of people who subscribe at ChristianCafe tend to be devoted and serious about religion in their lives. Your typical dating matches here are looking for a long term relationship and marriage. The searching ability allows you to find local people quickly and easily.
If you are thinking about trying an online dating site for the first time, we would encourage you to try ChristianCafe. The environment is friendly, respectful, and very much part of a Christian value system. The 10 day free trial allows you to sample the website and find out if there are sufficiently interesting matches in your area. The result of trying this site is direct communication with like minded singles of faith.
eHarmony is one of the best dating sites for Christian singles, and we recommend whole heartedly even though it is not strictly a Christian site. The psychological test that you take to start the process is lengthy, but ultimately sets you up with very nuanced and specific matches. The matching process is unique and actually really good, though the site doles out matches to you a small amount at a time. Subscribing is part of the premium segment for online dating, but we think the value proposition is worth it given the depth and breadth of eHarmony.
eHarmony was an interesting online dating experience. You either love or hate the initial “Relationship Questionnaire” that you take to join the site. It is long and will require your mental stamina to complete. Once finished with the initial test, your matches are customized and can be pretty accurate, depending on your geographic location.
The site is definitely part of the premium segment of online dating. Try eHarmony as one of the first places if you are looking to get started in online dating.
Though this site’s community is smaller than others, we were actually very impressed. The Christian people with whom we emailed and met from this community were of the highest quality. The site provides an atmosphere of positivity and respect, placing great emphasis on serving Christ and becoming a better person. The focus on being and doing better was a breath of fresh air in a world that sometimes seems to be very self centered. In fact, the site organizes “Ministry Mobilization” days throughout U.S. communities, which gives members the opportunity to volunteer in their local areas. What a great way to give of yourself and potentially meet other singles in the process. We recommend this site wholeheartedly if you are looking for a community and perspective that is unique and inspiring.
5. Christian Dating for Free
Christian Dating for Free is a very good website for what it is—a free and simple way to interact with Christian singles. We felt that the member community was large and had the ability to grow quickly given that anyone can register without paying. It is definitely worth reviewing this site and searching your area for matches. Many of our editors felt that this site wasn’t the best quality on several levels, but its value proposition remained high.
The site doesn’t have the professionally designed feel or functionality of places like Christian Mingle. But in many ways that is the point—it’s a basic and free website that allows you to search for people of faith in your state
Christian Singles is a pretty good, middle of the pack Christian dating website. On one hand, we think they did a good job of creating a site that truly preserves Christian values. On the other hand, we have reviewed other Christian dating sites that delivered more potential dates and a more vibrant community of people. There is a balance that must be achieved between creating a community with a critical mass of people, while at the same time ensuring that the Christian values of the community remain intact. We think that Christian Singles has protected their values, perhaps to the detriment of creating a larger and more inclusive pool of single people.
The paid subscription at Christian Singles is relatively lower than other sites. For this reason, it is not a bad option. We would encourage you, should you have the interest, to register and review the site before subscribing.
Christian Cupid is a good, not great, Christian dating website. The people with whom we communicated on this site were intelligent and devoted in their faith. You can definitely meet a great person on this site by subscribing. That said, there were fewer good potential matches here than on other websites. We had the feeling that this site catered to a more international community and not just the U.S. In the sign up process, it appears that members really come from all over the globe. This is not a bad thing per se, but since we are located in the U.S. we wanted to find Christians in our local communities. The company is based in Australia, which obviously gives it a more international perspective.
More plusses than minuses was the general theme at Christian Cupid. We liked the site for its sharp layout and ease of use. We felt comfortable with the people with whom we communicated. Also, the site allows for specific searches for local matches. This was helpful and a feature that is not available at other sites. One minor critique: we found several profiles on the site where the person hadn’t actively communicated in many, many months. Check out Christian Cupid, but investigate a few other sites as well before you subscribe!
8. Christian Lifestyle
Christian Lifestyle was less impressive to us than many of the other sites we reviewed. It simply came down to the size of the community and the people with whom we communicated. In this regard, Christian Café and Christian Mingle were superior. The editors all had a similar experience of trying very hard to find a few good matches in our respective metro areas. The results of our test membership were unimpressive here.
Overall, we would skip Christian Lifestyle in favor of other Christian dating sites with better people and a better community. The site was not as committed as other places to upholding a Christian environment for its members. We felt that some of the categories listed on the home page for members did not meet our standards for faith and respect.
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.
{ 16 trackbacks }