Scott Croft, an elder at Mark Dever’s Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., has been writing an article series on Biblical Dating that is being published to Focus on the Family’s Boundless webzine. I’ve posted the series’ preface below, and the links to the 7 published articles so far. All the articles are very good and together form a biblical, countercultural path towards Christian dating.

Of special note is the most recent article, From “Hi” to “I Do” in a Year, Scott recommends “that people either get married or break up within a year or so of beginning a dating relationship.” So if you are dating someone for almost a year, or over a year now, this is something worth reading

The system today’s young men and women have inherited for finding and marrying a future spouse leaves a lot to be desired. We often hear complaints from readers about the confusion, hurt and sexual sin they’ve encountered despite their best intentions. Many want to know how they can go about getting to know someone and eventually getting married without getting hurt or compromising their faith.

At Focus on the Family, we’ve offered a range of resources and expert advice bringing Biblical principles to bear in this area. Some of the messages we’ve presented have taken the position that Christians can apply their faith in such a way that they can still work within the system they’ve inherited. Other messages have stressed that Christians need to be much more counter-cultural. Joshua Harris, for instance, has promoted a model of courtship that harkens back to a model used broadly before modern dating evolved.

People attempting to follow a courtship model within today’s culture, however, often run into a lot of practical questions, such as, “What if her dad is unavailable or uninterested in being involved?” or “What do you do when you live hundreds of miles from your family?”

The goal of this series of articles, beginning with this introduction, is to provide our readers with a place to bring those questions. Scott Croft is an elder at Capitol Hill Baptist Church where he teaches a seminar on Friendship, Courtship and Marriage. He is also an attorney who is used to tackling tough questions.

The answers he brings may be different from anything you’ve heard before. The topics he’s going to be dealing with are ones in which equally committed Christians have found different Biblical interpretations. Not all will agree with Scott’s approach, and we invite feedback from anyone who believes there are better interpretations for the Biblical passages Scott draws from.

It’s our hope that this Q&A series will be valuable both for those who think the Bible gives sufficient guidance for operating within our current system as well as for those who are looking for a completely countercultural path to marriage.

Articles in the Biblical Dating series so far:

1. An Introduction
2. To Kiss or Not to Kiss
3. Just Friends
4. Navigating The Early Stages of a Relationship
5. Growing in Intimacy
6. Tips for Engagement
7. From “Hi” to “I Do” in a Year