Review of Christian Mingle
Christian Singles Site is Top Value

Overview
Quick Facts
Company
Tour (What to Expect)
What We Liked Most
What We Did Not Like
Conclusion

Overview

Christian Mingle (formerly Relationships.com) is one of the largest Christian singles sites, and we have found it to be a very good value for the money compared with the other top singles sites. The site is a very well-done personals-style dating service, with some matching capabilities as well.

One difference from other sites it that entire sections of the site are always free. That’s right- sign up for a free membership and enjoy many great features like free photo personal profile, a free photo album, free profile browsing and free matching. You only pay to upgrade your membership when you want to communicate with others on the site.

Quick Facts

* A free magazine subsciption is included with each 1, 3, or 6-month Premium membership, making these prices even better.

Company Ownership

Started as Christian Mingle, the site was sold to Spark Networks in 2005. Spark Networks is best known for their top Jewish dating site, JDate.com. Even though the parent company is not managed by Christians (to our knowledge), this site remains a Christian-only site, and by being a part of a larger company, the site has a high degree of professionalism and sophistication.

It should be noted that Spark Networks does have categories on its other sites supporting gay and lesbian relationships. However, this is not the case on ChristianMingle.com, and we are recommending ChristianMingle.com (but not the company’s other sites) as one of the top 3 Christian singles sites.

Tour (What to Expect)

This is the easily sign-up process of any singles site we have reviewed, with only a couple of forms to fill out. Click on the "Free Guest Membership" graphic on the inital page to get started.

SAFETY TIP: do not use your last name as part of your User ID, since everyone can see your User ID, and you don’t want to make too much personal information public on-line.

The first form is basic information- Username, Password, etc., and on the second form you will enter a little basic profile info- height, education, etc. That's it! You don't even have to check your email inbox to activate your account.

The congratulations page that is diplayed gives you four options to get strarted (start with any one of these, and then you can access any of the rest of them later from your main page when you log-in):

• Upload Photo - we recommend you upload a photo of yourself, since you will receive a lot more visits to your profile.
• Complete Profile- (find these options later on the "My Profile" menu) your inital member registration was quick to allow you to get started fast, but there are still several areas of your profile that you should complete:
  • Location- if in U.S. or Canada, enter your zip code. This will enable the matching system to match to people in your area, and allow others to see if you are close to them as well.
  • Fun Facts- other singles will want to read this part of your profile to learn more about you, so be sure to complete these 16 quick multiple-choice questions.
  • Introduction and Essays- your intro will display at the top of your profile, so type something in there. The "essays" give you a chance to share a bit more about yourself.
  • My Ideal Match- you should complete this section if you want the automatic matching system to match you up a bit better according to your preference. Our advice would be not to be too specific, or you might not get too many results.
  • Color Code- this is an interesting personality profile – a unique matching system created by Dr. Taylor Hartman - which connects members based on core personality traits. It is no where near the indepth scientific approach that eHarmony uses, but it only 30 questions, so it is worth a few minutes of your time to "know thyself", and it will help the automatic matching system match you up better with potential soul mates.
• Start Searching- jumps to Quick Search. Other search options available from the Search menu are Advanced Search (choose from multiple criteria); Photo Gallery, and Photo Shuffle.
• Connect with Others- this takes you to the upgrade options (paid memberships). Basically, you are free to browse profiles, etc., but if you want to communicate with anyone, you will have to upgrade to a paid membership.

Once you have clicked one of these options and performed that action, click on "Home" to go to your main home page within the system. Here you will see all of the options listed above on the menus at the top. Some other great features you will see:

• Toll-free support number- prominently displayed on left column of most pages.
• Connect Menu - all of the things you can do with a paid Premium membership- Chat Live, read any emails sent to you, send emails (internal to the system) to other members, instant message with other singles, and participate on the message boards (forums).

With your profile filled out, behind-the-scenes the system periodically matches you to other opposite-sex singles based upon the profile information, and emails this to you. You can also see the matches by selecting "My Recent Matches" from the Search menu.

There is a lot more to explore! If you feel lost, use the Help link (upper-right corner)- the very good Help section will enable you to learn all of the things you can do on the site.

This free membership is a great opportunity to check out the site (and the other Christian singles on it), but you can't meet anyone or communicate without upgrading to a paid membership. But don't dispair, because the 1-month member prices here are lower than the other top dating services we reviewed, and the 3-month and 6-month rates are lower or equal to the other services.

What We Liked Most

Free membership feautures - can use portions of the site without becoming a paid member.

Great design and interface.

Very competive prices. The 1-month Premium membership has lowest price of our top 3 recommended sites.

Many active Christian single members, both in U.S. and world-wide.

The toll-free customer care.

Easy to sign up, and no need to check your email to confirm your membership. You can be inside the sytem in minutes.

What We Didn't Like

We wish the parent company was Christian-owned.

Conclusion

We like this site, and whether you are new to on-line dating or an old pro, we recommend this site to Christian singles as an excellent overall value. With the robust features for basic (free) memberships, the quick and easy registration, and low cost for full membership if you decide to upgrade, this is definitely a dating service that Christian singles should check out.

Reviews: Christian Mingle | ChristianCafe.com

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