Three friends in San Diego, California, were discouraged seeing that people within the church were either not dating or were dating poorly. Seeing many of their peers applying worldly principles to their dating lives and dealing with the repercussions made these friends stop and think about what could be done to help.
Looking at the current dating culture within the church, they saw that people were either not dating at all, just hanging out, or they were not dating well. There seemed to be a disconnect in Christian culture about dating with few Christian dating resources offered. And some of those only offered extremes. These three friends couldn’t find anything providing a middle ground on dating.
But Danece Van Soelen, DeAngelo Moss and Monica Morales wanted to help bring a biblical and relevant balance to the dating culture. Practical dating advice needed to be coupled with spiritual wisdom. God is supposed to be in the center of healthy relationships, and He needs to be in the center of dating. With these things in mind, the Dating Project was launched.
Danece said, “We wanted to provide principles that are easy to apply to dating. We wholeheartedly believe that healthy dating relationships lead to healthy marriages. And healthy marriages lead to healthy families. We began the Dating Project to bring God back into the conversation.”
As a group of friends, they formed the Dating Project as an organization that is on mission to connect and educate Christians for the purpose of developing healthy dating relationships. They want to offer biblically balanced and culturally relevant curriculum that provide the practical how-tos of dating, “God’s way.” They also wanted to show a positive Christian approach to dating while revealing God’s design for relationships.
The Dating Project currently offers video based curriculum called “The Dating Challenge.” When you subscribe to the Dating Challenge on their website, you’ll receive an email with a short video and worksheet every day for five days. The Dating Challenge tackles dating topics such as who pays on your first date, physical boundaries and best practices in dating. They also expand on the “three-date rule” and “when to call it quits.”
Danece also acknowledged that dating is not just a journey for two people. It is also a path of self-discovery. She said when each person knows and follows the godly advice given by The Dating Project, they will grow in their spiritual walk and be more assured of who God has created them to be.
The Dating Project is currently developing more curriculum to expand on developing healthy dating habits that they believe will ensure healthy marriages. Some curriculum will be more specialized, such as how to prepare for marriage, which will dig deeper into personal and spiritual growth.
Dating doesn’t have to be complicated if you’re a Christian. And Christians don’t have to settle for worldly advice anymore. The Dating Project offers trendy videos with practical and relevant dating advice. If you are single and needing a fresh start to dating, the Dating Project will help you bring God into the center of your relationships.
For more information or to sign up for the free Dating Challenge course, go to thedatingproject.com or @TheDatingProjectOfficial on Instagram and Facebook. {eoa}
Jared Laskey, M.Div., M.A. Christian Ministry, is founder and senior pastor of Destiny Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He lives to see Jesus awaken this generation to the power of the Holy Spirit. You can follow him on twitter @jaredalaskey and purchase his co-authored book Veronica’s Hero. You can also subscribe to his podcast and check out firebornministries.org
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