Christian dating doesn’t have to be harder than any other sort of dating. Yes, if you’re a Christian and dating there are issues that you’ll encounter that people from another religion or non-religious background won’t. However, we’ve noticed within Christian dating there seems to be a serial over-complication of the dating process. We’ve put together a list of four things that can help your Christian dating experience become a whole lot simpler.
Christian dating starts with you
To have a happy and worthwhile Christian dating experience it’s important that you first ask yourself some important questions;
- What is your relationship with god like?
Everyone’s different, but you should try to understand what your relationship with God is. How devout are you? Do you go to church every Sunday? Is god the number one focus of your life, or just a part of it? If you can understand your relationship with God, then you’ll be better placed to decide who you want to date.
- What are your deal breakers?
Once you understand your own relationship with God, you’ll then be in a better position to decide what your must haves in a potential partner are. Knowing these will help you avoid dating people that it will never work with.
Dating isn’t a bad thing
Historically marriages were often arranged by parents. In fact there is absolutely no mention of dating (as we know it) in the bible. So in terms of having scripture to guide you, when it comes to dating you might be better seeking guidance from your family or church. It’s common in some Christian circles to believe that God has picked a man or woman out for you and he will guide you to her, although this is not mentioned in any religious text. We advise you to take comfort in the fact that you always have God to pray and confide in.
Dating has other benefits, not only does it allow you to learn about your date, but also more importantly it helps you learn about yourself. What kind of a dater are you? Are you kind? Relaxed? Up-tight? Short-tempered? Knowing these things can help you not only be more self-aware but also help you work out what you should look for in a partner.
You don’t know who’s out there until you actually go out and see for yourself – and signing up to a dating site is a great way to see who’s out there.
Don’t limit yourself!
There are thousands of single Christians on Match, so why limit the amount of people you could date to the people within your local Christian community? Why not take the initiative and spread your dating net a little wider. Finding someone with similar beliefs to you is a problem many Christian daters have to deal with. If your beliefs are central to who you are, that you couldn’t be with a person who had slightly differing attitudes than finding that special person can be tough.
This is where Match is especially useful for Christians, our advanced search filters allow you to filter members according to denomination and other religious factors such as the extent to which someone practices their religion. The filtering process has two major benefits; firstly, you’ll be able to see a list of all the people who have similar beliefs to you. Secondly, it can help to avoid those awkward questions that most of us will have encountered when meeting someone new. Which can make the start of a first date a lot more pleasant and less like a job interview.
Don’t be too harsh on yourself
The whole thing about dating and finding the one, is it requires a little trial and error. The first man or woman you go on a date with, will often not be the one – and that’s fine. Don’t feel as if you’ve done anything wrong. If you don’t see your date as a potential partner then politely and respectfully tell them, it might sting a little for the person at first but that’s better than stringing them along. Likewise, if a date say’s they don’t want to see you again then accept it gracefully.
From unsuccessful dates try to think about the positives; you might have a made a new friend, talked about a topic you never imagined talking about or been introduced to a completely new point of view. But most of all, you should be thankful to the date for helping you understand what you want from a partner. Trying to find the one isn’t an easy process, but try to remember:
‘Every wrong date you go on, takes you one closer to the right one’
If you have heard of or had to deal with any other issues whilst Christian dating than tweet us @match_UK.