Frequently asked questions

• Who is this service for?
• Why is friendsfirst for Christians only?
• What do you mean by Christian?
• How does the service work?
• What do you mean by marital status?
• As Christians should we need to use the services of an organisation like friendsfirst to

find a soulmate?

• Is it safe to use a service like this?

THE FRIENDSFIRST SERVICE

Who is this service for?

friendsfirst is a dedicated service for single (single, divorced, separated, widowed) Christians of all ages who live in the UK.

Why is friendsfirst for Christians only?

friendsfirst was set up specifically for Christians who want to meet other Christians. Therefore membership is only open to people who hold the Christian faith. This ensures that when people meet each other, they know that they will share their faith in common. There are many other organisations where people can meet others who are not specifically Christian, but this organisation has Christianity at its core.

What do you mean by Christian?

We understand Christian to mean people who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and who generally associate themselves with mainline Christian denominations.

How does the service work?

friendsfirst circulates members profiles to each other. Profiles are selected for each member based on the age criteria specified on each member's application form (and our guidance that this should be at least 5 years either side of the members own age). We send you people who fit your age criteria as long as you also fit theirs! Therefore the wider your age criteria is, the more profiles you will receive. For example if you are a lady aged 45 and your profile specifies you want to meet a man aged between 35 and 60, we will send you details of all of the men aged between 35 and 60 who want to meet a 45 year old. We will not send you a 61 year old; nor a 40 year old man whose profile states that he only wants to meet woman aged between 30 and 40. We also try to select profiles of members who are geographically as close to you as possible. Where this is not possible we send you profiles of members living further afield.

Maximising the choice of people you can meet is very important to us and therefore we do not select on a range of other criteria – e.g. marital status, smoking, interests etc. We firmly believe that these sort of criteria restrict your choice and may 'cut out' people who might be very compatible for you.

What do you mean by marital status?

We mean whether you are single (never been married), separated, widowed or divorced.

As Christians should we need to use the services of an organisation like friendsfirst to find a soulmate?

God does not just expect us to do nothing: He does not always drop our soulmate on to our laps, He expects us to look about & try different avenues. We don't generally move churches just to find a mate and there is a limited amount of other ways to meet other Christians, so this is a great way of meeting new friends.

Is it safe to use a service like this?
There are risks to most things we do in life. And sadly this is occasionally the case when you meet people through organisations like ours. However we’ve set friendsfirst up with your safety and security in mind. When you join we’ll give you lots of advice to ensure you minimise any risks there might be in meeting new people. In the meantime here are some things you should think about:-

• Only use friendship organisations that have a solid privacy policy – ie those which will never give

out your personal information.

• Until you are absolutely sure about who you are contacting, never reveal contact information

about yourself (ie home/work address, telephone numbers etc.) 

• If you are corresponding with someone you don’t know by email, ensure your email address

does not give away your full identify. Consider setting up a new account with a different name if necessary

• Be wary of agencies who focus solely on photographs and 'looks' to match people up.
• Take time to establish good initial communication –get to know the person you are in touch

with before you arrange to meet.

• Be honest about yourself. Keep track of the information the person you are contacting

gives you and make sure it’s consistent with everything else you know about them.

• Ask lots of questions, both before and during a date – it helps identify liars, as well as

working out compatibility.

• Trust your instincts to how you feel about people. If you’re unsure why not ask a friend to read

over the emails or messages to see if you overlooked any thing that might be out of the ordinary.

• Don't assume everything someone says is true – people can pretend to be someone

they're not.

• When you arrange to meet someone always meet in a public place , never at your home,

and make sure your friends know where you are going and have the details.  It’s a good idea to ask a friend to call or text you half an hour or so into your meeting to see if you are OK. If you are not, they can come and distract you.

• Arrange for a friend to meet you at the end of a date and drive you home – this way you get

a second opinion on your date plus, added safety.

• Don't drink too much alcohol on your first date and never leave your drinks unattended.
• Watch out for dates who avoid your questions, making odd remarks, and avoid eye contact.