Our spiritual oversight requirement explained
To be eligible for Dominion Dating, you need a pastoral reference. This is to verify that you have been under the oversight of a local church for at least 3 months. Yes, we will consider exceptions.
At Dominion Dating, we set the bar high. Our doors are wide open to biblically-faithful, marriage-minded singles.
We're the only dating site to vet users for their commitment to Biblical sexuality.
We require a verified pastoral endorsement from all users.
This means, you won't find masses of carnal "Christian" singles flooding our dating network. The days of sifting through piles and piles of disappointing worldly profiles is over.
Apply for free! (No credit card required)
Updated Pastoral Endorsement Form
We have received tremendously helpful feedback (thank you), from a number of Dominion Daters, seeking clarification on our requirement for a discipleship reference. After consideration, we have revised this language to hopefully eliminate any confusion.
You can now pick 1 of 3 options:
The spiritual oversight requirement explained
To be under spiritual oversight means that you have intentionally submitted yourself to the discipleship of a qualified man. Scripture’s qualifications are as follows:
beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, who are not accused of dissipation, or rebellious. 7 For the overseer must be beyond reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of dishonest gain, 8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled, 9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to reprove those who contradict. (Titus 1:6-9)
We accept the following overseers for applicants:
Local church pastors/elders. This is the ordinary expectation for the majority of our applicants. Normatively, all Christians should be under the authoritative shepherding of the pastors/elders in a sound church—namely, a church that upholds the basic doctrinal standards of Christianity, as outlined in our Member Requirements. (We recognize house-churches as legitimate local churches.) Your reference should be from the pastor/elder that you are directly accountable to. We will accept a reference from anyone who is a legitimately-ordained pastor. Unordained small group leaders or “youth pastors” do not count, except perhaps in de facto cases.
Christian father. We recognize that for many young people, their primary discipler is still their father. Therefore, if you have never married and are still living at home, we accept a reference from your Christian father, provided he meets the following criteria:
He is himself a Christian who affirms our doctrinal statement;
He is under the spiritual oversight of a sound local church. This second requirement is necessary because the Lord Jesus does not permit us to muddy the distinction between a household and a church. They are separate and distinct spheres of authority, and a father who does not recognize this is acting as a law unto himself—the very thing our pastoral verification system is designed to avoid.
De facto church pastor. This option is reserved for cases where a sound local church does not exist. If you cannot find a church within driving distance that upholds our basic doctrinal standards, we are willing to consider good-faith de facto alternatives. A de facto church is a body of believers that functions as a church, even if it is not officially constituted as one. In particular, it must have men who are qualified as pastors according to scripture, and who act as pastors in their essential function, even if they are not officially ordained as such.
Note: we do recognize that pastor’s wives, or other elder women, may also disciple younger women (Titus 2). However, it is the pastor himself who is ultimately charged with overseeing this work. Therefore, it is his endorsement that we require for verifying your application to use Dominion Dating.
What your overseer will need to do
When you fill in the application form, you will need to enter the name and email of the man acting as your overseer. He will be sent an email with a link an online form. He will need to complete this form to attest to your fitness for membership at Dominion Dating. (It will take him no longer than 5 minutes.)
Note that Christian fathers and de facto overseers may be asked for extra information about their circumstances.
Minor Inconvenience, Major Impact
Our verified pastoral reference requirement is a minor inconvenience for applicants—but diligent gatekeeping on the front end helps ensure the safety and integrity of our platform. Obviously no system is 100% foolproof—but this is one of multiple features we’ve intentionally put in place to better serve and protect our Dominion Daters. It is a major pillar in establishing a strong network of doctrinally-sound, marriage-minded Christian singles.
As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
The bottom line, here, is that we want our network of Christian singles to be as spiritually healthy and mature as possible. This can’t happen if Dominion Dating gets flooded with singles who are disconnected from local fellowship, and are not under spiritual oversight.
Proverbs 18:1-2 tells us that whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. There is no place on Dominion Dating for renegade singles. If you’re not willing to submit your life to God’s Word, including oversight from his under-shepherds, then you’re the wrong fit for our network.
We understand that these are less than ideal times. Many Christian singles are isolated due to circumstance, and unable to find a faithful church and pastor. We’re committed to working with you, provided you make a sincere effort on your end.
Together, we can build a much needed resource to help today’s church right the ship of a worsening marriage crisis.