Big Church
Big Church is one of the most popular dating sites that specialize in catering to people of faith. Some may recognize the look and feel from the Friend Finder family of sites. Friend Finder has a very big-name and they have the resources at their command to reach a broad body of people. We took a look inside Big Church to see what it was all about…
Dating sites are usually made or broken by the size of their membership base — or just about. The more people you see online, the more people you can reach. Big Church scores well when it comes to popularity. This has a lot to do with the marketing network that they have in place, and the fact that they’ve been around for years. This means that no matter what follows, this dating site is probably worth a look.
Having said that, the worst notch against BigChurch.com is that they won’t let you see full profiles until you’ve paid for a membership. How can you tell if a dating site is worth the price of membership if you can’t see the members? Big Church is asking for a big leap of faith in this regard. We recommend that you proceed with caution but keep in mind that even though you can’t see profiles, Friend Finder is a large company with the resources to put a decent dating site on the market.
“…if you’re looking to meet people who share your beliefs, this isn’t such a bad place to start.”
Being able to see the date that a given member last logged in is equally as important as being able to read a profile. On this point, the site delivers. The last login date is easily visible in search results. Even if you can’t read profiles, at least you’ll be able to see how many people logged in during the past day. That’s usually a good indication of how popular a site is in your area.
When it comes to conducting searches, Big Church gives new users a few options. The first two, allowing you to search by country or state, aren’t really all that helpful if you’re looking to rate this site on the amount of members in your area. The third option is to search by zip code, which is a little more useful – but only for US residents. The site could clearly do more for new users in this regard.
If you wish to communicate with other members, there are a number of options available to you. There is a chat board where you can take part in various discussions and an instant messaging client for those who prefer the immediate connection. The site also allows users to create their own blogs and take part in groups. One of the other nice features on this Christian site is that it allows users to search by denomination so you can make sure to connect with people that share your beliefs.
Pricing starts at about $16 a month or you can buy three months for $30. This is less than the average cost of a dating site and there are a lot of features that you get for that price. They do offer a premium membership that gives you preferred placement in search results and gives you extra storage for your mail folder. This will run you about $20 a month.
Overall, BigChurch could be more user-friendly for those who have never seen or experienced one of the Friend Finder sites before. I’m always skeptical when I can’t see members’ profiles. It’s easier for dating sites to pad the database. However, as I’ve said before, BigChurch.com has a big name, so if you’re looking to meet people who share your beliefs, this isn’t such a bad place to start.