Dating & Relationships

Speaking for the first time can be an anxious experience. No matter how much you’re looking forward to finally hearing someone’s voice – whether on the phone, a video call or face to face across a café table – it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or nervous. Having some simple dating icebreakers can really help. As part of Christian Connection’s #BetterDating resources, we’re starting the #BetterConversations week with some easy questions to launch into that first chat without nerves.

Welcome to Christian Connection’s Better Dating, Better Connections resources. For over 20 years Christian Connection has been helping single Christians just like you meet and form lasting relationships. We’ve heard from thousands of couples who first connected through the site and app, who each have an encouraging, enriching story to share. And it’s good to remember that each love story started with a conversation. A simple hello, a friendly question, an exchange that led to more.
So, in addition to our weekly blog full of dating and relationship advice, we’re sharing easy ways to help you date better, build stronger relationships and get to know like-minded single Christians, starting with the basis of great relationships: Better Conversations.

How you communicate is key to building trust, and trust is foundational to any relationship. Trust takes time to develop but can easily be lost in a second. It’s precious, valuable, to be treasured, protected and constantly built on. Without trust, a relationship falls apart – communication fails, insecurities creep in and it’s no longer just the two of you and God. Instead, it’s the two of you and doubt. Trust needs to be built from the very start of a relationship, be it friendship or romance.

We all desire to be in healthy relationships, and whilst we cannot always just make it happen, there are several things we can do to give ourselves the opportunity or increase our chances of finding one. When you’re looking to be in a healthy relationship, it is important to put yourself in the right environment – physically, socially, and even mentally – to enable that to happen. So, how do you improve your dating environment to ensure you’re in a space that helps you find a healthy relationship? And how can you overcome any limitations to enable this?

Whether you are dating, in a relationship or married for a long time, one of the main keys to a successful relationship is finding ways to show appreciation. If your ‘appreciation box’ is filled up, you’re more likely to give out love more easily. If your box is empty, then it’s very hard to maintain a healthy relationship. If you appreciate your partner, then they will feel loved and filled up, ready to show you appreciation. If you feel appreciated by your partner, then you are going to find it much easier to show love and appreciation and be happier in a relationship or when dating.

As an online dating newbie a few years back I can well remember the mixture of emotions that followed upon posting my first online profile. There was the initial flurry of excitement at reaching out and trying something which I knew had huge potential to help me meet a life-partner. But there was also the uncertainty and hesitancy summed up by the thought, “What if nobody seems interested?” Well, someone was interested and we’ve now been married for six years! But in the time leading up to this connection, sometimes that nagging feeling would come back to haunt me and so it was important to find ways of dealing with it and getting past it. If you’re wondering how to get beyond that feeling and move forward, read on…

I have a love/hate relationship with Valentine’s Day. When I was a kid there was nothing more exciting than turning up to school on February 14th and wondering if there was an anonymous card or chocolates on my desk (this only happened once… and it turned out to be my friend playing a prank) My enthusiasm started to wane when I was 19 and finally had a boyfriend to spend the day with. I opened the door and he was standing there holding a single long-stemmed red rose. I found the whole thing so cheesy and inauthentic that the rest of the night was a disaster. Over the years I’ve come to realise that typical romantic gestures and occasions like Valentine’s Day aren’t really for me. I don’t like love hearts and candlelit dinners. God help the man who brings me roses. But I do like being single on Valentine’s Day. And here’s why…

It’s that time of year again. First come the festivals, like Christmas and New Year’s Eve, then come the New Year’s resolutions, maybe including ones for dating and relationships. Don’t tell anyone I said this but sometimes the mere thought of all these new actions I’m resolving to take makes me feel like lying down for a rest first. So that got me thinking: how about making some dating ‘anti-resolutions’ instead? You know, all the things you definitely aren’t going to do? Here are six dating resolutions not to make this year…