Help and Support

The benefits of love, marriage and family life are very often stressed by Churches and for good reason. Christians are rightly encouraged to form relationships with others.

The reality is that there are lots of people who find it a major struggle to meet other eligible Christians. Those in small churches often find it hard to meet enough single people. Those in large churches feel under the spotlight, or find it hard to really get to know people well.

The opportunities of getting to meet Christians from other denominations, or even just different churches can be few and far between.

The matchmaking service gives Christians a far ranging opportunity to meet Christians from all parts of Australia and from different denominations. It leaves less to chance and brings everybody more choice. Through carefully designed questions, people can form a much more realistic impression of whether they might be likely to be compatible and have a basis for really getting to know each other, even before they actually meet.

Although there are free Christian dating websites available, Christian Connection is very different and, we believe, much better!
We ask for subscriptions because:

• We believe that a service that members pay for is more likely to encourage committed, responsible membership

• We have a customer service team that keeps the service running smoothly on a daily basis

• Putting the site together has required a significant investment in technology and development of our matchmaking software and techniques

• We're spreading the word to build up membership and provide more choice for members. Membership is growing and we intend that to continue

We aren't here for big bucks but the system will need to pay for itself...eventually!

If you are a student, pensioner or on a limited income, we will consider special rates on an individual basis. Compare membership types.

This website has been designed for people in the Australian Christian community. It has been tried and tested by other Christians. We also believe that we are the most technically advanced Christian matchmaking site in Australia.

Sorry, but this site is open to Christians who live in Australia who are 18 and over. We would not be able to give a reasonable service to people living in other countries, and there are also significant legal implications involved. If you are an Australian living abroad temporarily, or travelling, you can join the site, provided you can provide a valid and verifiable address. It’s probably a good idea to let us know as well.

If you live in the UK/Ireland, why not try Christian Connection UK?

That is not as easy as it sounds. As we all know Christians come with widely different beliefs, ways of worship and expression. Even those from the same denomination can vary a great deal; in how they approach their faith.

Christian Connection is a service aimed to include all Trinitarian Christians within Australia. We welcome the richness of the Christian tradition.

What is a Trinitarian Christian?

Christians who accept the Trinity: i.e. accepting God as three eternal persons, in God the Father, God the Son, Jesus Christ, and God the Spirit.

Who is included in this definition?

Christians from the following traditions all come within this definition:

• Anglican
• Catholic
• Uniting
• Baptist
• Methodist
• Orthodox
• Pentecostal
• Lutheran

There are many other Independent Churches including Evangelical, Pentecostal and Charismatic churches which are within Trinitarian definition. If your tradition is not mentioned, you may want to contact us to check.

Who is not included?

People belonging to Churches which do not accept the Trinity for example:

• Jehovahs' Witnesses

• Mormons

• Unification Church

Also those churches, fellowships, organisations and groups who claim an exclusive relationship with God, who reject the possibility that salvation can come to those outside their particular persuasion.

Your choice

The Christian Connection matchmaking service will ask you to describe your own Christian tradition and ask you about your personal faith. If you are uncomfortable about meeting with people coming from particular traditions then you can use our service to set out those parameters and you will not be matched with people from those traditions. We do hope however, that many people will take the opportunity of meeting with, sharing and learning from Christians outside their own tradition. That is one of the benefits of Christian Connection.

Respect for others

Christians do not always agree with each other about everything. In fact Christians often disagree with each other. We believe that there are many great traditions within Christianity which have contributed in many different ways. Anybody who joins Christian Connection and chooses to attack or undermine the traditions of others may find themselves asked to leave if this causes undue offence or annoyance to other members. See Terms and Conditions.

Commitment and Honesty

We appreciate that no definition is perfect. Many say one thing and believe another. Some of us are seeking, some are struggling, and others feel confident in what it is that they believe. None of us are in the same place. The important point is that we should be honest about where we are and not claim to be what we are not. The questionnaire does give the opportunity to say where you think you are. We hope, that the fact you want to sign up means that your faith is important to you.

We send a confirmation email to your registered email address. Click the link in the email to confirm your address.

Your profile will remain invisible until you've confirmed your email address. We do this to protect our members.

IMPORTANT: Don't forget to check your spam/junk folder

Don't worry, it happens. Go here and enter your email address and we'll send you a link to log in.

You can login using either your email or username. Passwords are case sensitive, but your email or username is not.

No problem, we can sort this out for you. Just send us an email and we'll get back to you. There's no need to sign up again, as your details may still be on the system. You don't want to end up with two accounts!

Yes! You can now join Christian Connection with your Facebook account. Go to the sign up page and click 'Join with Facebook'

We only import enough personal information to set up your profile on Christian Connection. This includes your name, email address, profile info and photos (if you allow). We only import your information if you give us permission to do so.

No. We will never post to your timeline or your activity feed. If you sign up to Christian Connection using Facebook, we only import your information. Your Facebook friends can't see that you've signed up to Christian Connection.

However if you 'Share' or 'Like' content from our Facebook page, it will appear either on your wall or in your activity feed.

Yes, if you have connected your Facebook account with Christian Connection, simply click 'Log In with Facebook' on the login page.

You can also use the Forgot password form to get into your account if you're locked out.

Yes. You can do this by uploading a photo from your Facebook account. Upload a photo now

To disconnect your Facebook account with Christian Connection, login to Facebook and go to App Settings. Click the 'x' icon next to Christian Connection to remove permissions.

If you disconnect from Facebook, your profile will remain on Christian Connection. Click here to find out how to close your account.

You can find more information about Facebook Login on the Facebook Help Centre. If you still have any questions please contact us.

To stop appearing in another member's stats page, go to the Privacy section on Your Account page and untick the box that says Allow other users to see when I have viewed their profile .

To hide your profile from everyone either edit your Privacy settings on Your Account page; or if you see yourself in a search, click Hide from searches in the search results.

If you just want to be hidden from public searches, tick Hide my profile from public searches on Your Account page.

Click on the Hide from searches button on the member's profile page or on the searches page. You can hide yourself if you like!

Go to Your Lists page. From here you'll be able to see lists of members you have blocked and hidden from searches. Use the buttons on the right to unblock/unhide a member.

In a word, no! You're encouraged to complete as much as possible on your profile (and you will probably be more successful if you do!). There are a few mandatory questions to get you started, but after that you can always change or add to your profile later. A well thought out profile will help you stand out from the crowd and can be a great conversation starter, so be as personal as you can!

Looks aren't everything but a photo can make all the difference between getting your profile noticed or not. Our stats show that 40% of members wouldn't contact somebody who didn't have a good photo.

If you do not already have a profile photo, go to your profile, hover over the grey No Photo image and click the Upload photo link that appears in the top right. Follow the steps to upload a photo from your computer to your profile, and you're done!

If you already have a photo, go to your profile and click Add new photo beneath your current pictures then follow the steps as you did before.

One of the improvements we've made to the site is to allow for bigger profile photos. If you had a profile on the old site, your photo may have been enlarged, causing it to look a little blurry or pixellated.

The solution is to remove the old one and upload the original again.

Yes! and it's good to keep it up to date. Sign up to create your profile

We've come up with some handy tips on our profile tips page.

If you're new, you can join the site on a free trial basis, which will give you full access to all areas and functions of the site.

Once your membership expires, your account will automatically be converted into a "Profile" account, allowing you to login, browse, and edit your profile.

Compare membership types or check out the subscription options.

If you're sure you want to close your account, log in to the site and go to Your Account Page. In the first box that appears, click the "Close my account" link. From there, follow the instructions and click the big red button to close your account and log out.

Unfortunately some banks will charge an overseas transaction fee for payments made to Christian Connection. If this has happened to you, just get in touch and we'll happily refund the charge.
Credit cards with the following banks may be subject to these fees:

• Bendigo Bank
• HSBC
• GE Money

More information about these international fees can be found on CreditCardFinder.

As a general rule, we don't offer refunds (as stated in the Terms and Conditions).

However, in special circumstances such as fraud or a major error by Christian Connection, we may make an exception. If you'd like to find out if you're eligible for a refund, get in touch via our help form, and we'll see if we can help.

You can suspend your membership if you've purchased a 12 month membership, providing you have 3 or more weeks left.

Members with recurring subscriptions cannot suspend their membership, however they can hide their profile temporarily or cancel all future payments at any time. These features can be found on Your Account page.

In order to protect members on the site (as well as ourselves), the Terms and Conditions allow Christian Connection to close accounts, or refuse membership at our discretion. Below are some of the reasons we may give a warning to a member or immediately close their account:

• Misrepresentations on their account details, their profile or through the messages they send. This may include misrepresentations about age, gender, email address, surname or postcode.
• If they're under 18 or do not live in Australia.
• Attacking or undermining the traditions of other Christians on the site, directly or indirectly.
• Behaving in an offensive, disruptive, or criminal way either on or off the site.
• Inactivity for months (they'll be sent a notification email first).
• Failure to observe the Terms and Conditions or Privacy Policy.

If membership is terminated for any of the above reasons, membership fees are non-refundable.

When your membership expires, your profile will be kept on the system and will still be visible to other members, but you'll be limited as to what you can do on the site. You'll still be able to read messages from other members, but you'll have to subscribe in order to reply to them. Compare membership types.

If you think you might want to come back at a later date but want to hide your profile from other members, visit Your Account page and under Privacy tick Hide my profile from everyone.

If you'd like to close your account, you can do this on Your Account page. Click the Close my account link, and follow the instructions.

Your membership/subscription details can be found on your account page - there's a link to it in the top right when you're logged in.

We're sorry to hear that. Advice on what to do next can be found on our Disappointed page.

Simply login and subscribe! - your profile with all its details will still be there.

Please don't sign up again! Having more than one account can be confusing to other members on the site (and to you too!). The free trial is a one-off taster, so duplicate accounts will be closed.

If you've forgotten your password, go here and enter your email address to reset it. If you don't have access to the email account you signed up with, send us an email and we'll get back to you.

Please don't! Having more than one account can be confusing to other members on the site (and to you too!). Christian Connection will close any duplicate accounts.

Login to the site, visit Your Account page and click on Password. Enter your new password and your done!

Email notification settings can be changed in the Notifications section on Your Account page.

If you do not wish to receive any more messages from Christian Connection members please either hide your profile or cancel your membership.

A wave is an informal way to initiate contact - it's like a Facebook "poke" or a smile in a text message :)

Our system sends out loads of notifications every day, and as their content is often very similar, some email systems interpret our messages as junk mail, or 'spam'.

Although we do our best to ensure that our automated messages get through, once we have sent the messages out we have no control over what happens to them.

Try checking your spam/junk folder, and mark any Christian Connection notifications as 'Not Spam/Junk'.

Unfortunately this problem affects almost everyone! - you are not alone!

We have asked people time and again to make sure that they reply to all emails. There are various reasons why they don't:

• Some members receive a lot of email and find it difficult to respond to everyone.

• Others may be involved in a particular correspondence with another member.

• Some may have signed up then not visited the site again, even if they've been alerted that they have email.

• Some may have to subscribe in order to read their mail.

• Sometimes they can't be bothered or would rather not be negative.

Make sure your emails are as best as they can be by reading our Mailbox tips

When there is mail for you at Christian Connection, you will automatically receive a 'mail waiting' message in your external email account. You may have already viewed your Christian Connection mail before seeing this message in your external email account.

When an mail is sent to you on Christian Connection you automatically are sent an notification email.

As an expired member you'll still be able to read new mail, but you won't be able to reply until you subscribe.

Trial members can send 5 messages in a 24 hour period.

Full members can send 30 messages in a 24 hour period.

This limit is in place to encourage quality rather than quantity, and also reduces the potential for someone to post spam to a large number of members.

Compare membership types.

Trial members can send 10 waves in a 24 hour period.

Profile members can send 10 waves in a 24 hour period.

Full members can send 30 waves in a 24 hour period.

If you receive mail from a member but would prefer not to reply, there is a decline button. This sends a message to the sender thanking them for their message but declining further contact.

If you feel that the message is spam or goes against our Terms and Conditions, us the Report this message link on the message, and we'll look into it.

When viewing the message click the Report this message link, and fill out the form that appears.

They may be somebody whose trial membership has now expired, and their membership is "invisible" or they may have left the site completely.

If you have sent mail to a "trial expired" member, it will go to their inbox and they will receive it if they decide to rejoin as full members. Whenever they log on, they will be told that mail is in their inbox, even if they haven't yet rejoined.

If you are a current member you can send mail. When a mail is successfully sent a screen will appear telling you that the mail has gone. If you do not receive this screen, your mail has not been sent. You can also check your sent items. If the mail message does not appear in your sent items then it has not been sent.

If you are having trouble sending mail, please check that you have included a Message Title on your email. It will not be sent if you do not include one. Also check that you have not sent your email quota for the day.

For tips receiving more mail, see our Mailbox tips page.

Full and Trial members can read the discussions, add messages, start topics and view profiles of contributors.

Expired members can read the discussions, post 1 message per 24hrs, start topics, and view profiles of contributors.

Non-members only read the discussions and add messages. Non-members cannot view full profiles or start topics.

Compare membership types.

You must sign up before you can post messages on the boards.

If you're a trial member, you'll have to subscribe to start a new topic.

If you're a full member, make sure you've logged in before trying to post. If you're still having problems, contact us and we'll help you out.

NOTE: you must be a full member (and logged in) to start new topics.

Make sure your topic doesn't already exist (it can be annoying having more than one topic covering the same subject).

Then make sure you're in the correct forum - there are several forums for different subjects, so have a browse and go to the one best suited to your topic. Once your in the correct forum click the Create a new topic button and get writing!

When viewing a member's profile, just click View board posts by ... - it's in a box on the righthand side.

The live chat feature allows you to instantly exchange messages with other members who are online at the same time as you. As messages are exchanged in realtime, things can really liven up!

Make sure your status is 'online' - do this by checking the icon at bottom right of the window. Once you're online, you'll be able to see a list of online members by clicking 'Online users' at the bottom left.

To start a chat, simply click on a member in the 'Online users' list, and start typing in the window that appears. Press enter or return (⏎) to send your message. Responses from the other member will will be shown in the same window.

You must be logged in and your status set to 'online' (the recipient must do the same!).

If you receive a Could not be sent message when you start chatting, you may have blocked that member (or they may have blocked you!).

You don't have to make conversation with every member that starts chatting to you. If you don't fancy chatting with a particular member, it's a good idea to send a polite 'no thanks' message first. You can then close the chat by clicking the '×' button.

If you change your status to Offline you will disappear from the 'Online users' list, meaning other members won't be able to start chatting with you.

If you'd like to prevent a member from contacting you (via chat/mail/waves), click Block.

To minimise the chat window click the "_" button (next to the "×"). To reopen, click on the chat in the bar at the bottom.

To close a chat click the "×" button. Don't worry if you close a chat by mistake, click on the username in the 'Online users' list to revive it.

It sometimes takes a while to update your profile picture on the instant chat system. To solve this log out, close your browser, restart your browser, and log back in again.

Nothing! Zilch, nada, diddly-squat...(if you're a member). Subscribe!

If you use Christian Connection on a shared computer, it is advisable to uncheck the Remember me box on the login page, and to decline any offer from the browser (e.g. Internet Explorer) to remember your details.

It's also a good idea to logout when you've finished - there's a link to logout in the top right on every page.

You can read all about privacy protection on our Privacy Policy page.

At Christian Connection, we work very hard to detect and ban members who misuse the site and we are generally successful. However we also need our members to help us out and report anything they feel is suspicious. For more information about spotting scams visit the scams help page.

If you receive mail from a member but would prefer not to reply, there is a Create 'no thanks' message button. This generates a polite message addressed to the sender (which you may edit if you wish), thanking them for their message but declining further contact.

If you'd like to stop receiving messages from a particular member, you can block them using the Block this member link on their profile. If you do receive mail which you find inappropriate in any way, use the Report this message link on the relevant message.

If the same member is blocked several times, they may have their membership suspended.

Please don't block other members routinely or excessively. Blocking should be used carefully. Members who block excessively can cause confusion and may have their membership reviewed.

All online payments to Christian Connection are passed through a secure server, which provides many security features to keep your details safe.