I have many friends that remain single well into their twenties, thirties and even forties. They are great individuals who simply have not found someone that they are compatible with yet. I have great sympathy for them and I have a huge desire that each of them be in solid relationships that will eventually lead to marriage. Several single friends have asked my opinion about using a Christian dating service to help them find potential mates.

As a licensed marriage and family therapist, it makes sense that my single friends would come to me for advice about all things relating to marriage or even the possibility of marriage. They want to know if a Christian dating service is a legitimate way to meet someone and if there are any strategies they should be aware of as they attempt to meet someone special this way.

When the questions about using Christian dating services began coming to me I took a couple of weeks and really did some solid research on the different options and organizations that were available. I wanted to find out for myself what any Christian dating service really had to offer and whether or not they were building good reputations for actually helping people to meet significant people.

I learned many things from researching Christian dating services. One of the biggest things I learned is that a wide variety of people use the Christian dating services for an even wider variety of reasons. Therefore, I wanted to warn my friends that not everyone they could meet through these methods was in it for the same reasons. I didn't want to give my friends any sense of false hope about the success rates for some of the Christian dating services I looked at. There were a couple of really reputable Christian dating services that are doing well and helping people to find that someone special.

I think one of the most important things to do before you sign up for a membership with a Christian dating service is to really ask yourself what your expectations are from doing this. Be realistic about the fact that as good as a Christian dating service might be, they may not be perfect or find you the perfect match within weeks. So be willing to take your time and to wait out the results of using a Christian dating service. I am by no means against trying them out, but I hate to see people get disappointed when they aren't walking the wedding aisle within a month or two.