I don't think it is a generational thing. I am 38 and share your concerns and your intestinal nausea.

Ship-of-Fools has been doing this for years. The difference is, they're not professional, they don't get paid, and not even the pastor knows they've been "visited" until the emailed report arrives. I like their way better. It's not really a mystery if someone hired them.

I don't know about your churches, but my church is incredibly aware of cobwebs, rooms that need painting, and other building/grounds issues. We're not so good at thinking about how others feel in our small Episcopal parish. I have asked friends to serve this "mystery worshiper" role in the past and have received some great insights.

Thanks, Brent. That's a good point. I might feel better asking a friend to serve in an observational role instead of inviting a stranger into my flock for a day.

This is more of that corporate/marketing mentality that is often distracting from the gospel message itself. Is it possible that Church A has top of the line technology and media and yet fails to bring people closer to Jesus Christ while Church B across the street lacks budget, has stained ceiling tiles, and lacks mega church status and yet is fully engaged in the mission of God. Church A would get an A+ in a survey like this while Church B would be mediocre at best. So it seems to me that these services are asking all the wrong questions.

The sound you just heard was my eyes popping out of my head while my jaw hit the floor.

Unbelievable...absolutely, and completely unbelievable.

I'm totally dumbfounded...I...seriously, I don't know what to say to this, or even how to address it...in fact...I'm going to pretend I never read the article, or this thread...sorry Brandon...yeah...sorry, its not you, but the topic.

You stated "But what concerns me about the professional mystery worshipers in Alter’s article are the types of observations they are making. In one church, consultant Thomas Harrison noted “a water stain on the ceiling, a ‘stuffy odor’ in the children’s area, a stray plastic bucket under the bathroom sink and a sullen greeter who failed to say good morning before the worship service” among that church’s chief infractions." I submit that a sullen greeter IS something to be concerned about. I know of one person (not a professional mystery shopper) who visited a church and was only greeted by one person. That can have a lasting impact.

My mother-in-law mentioned earlier this year that a group like this came to their church in Tulsa, OK. Shortly after the anonymous visit, they came back officially and reported to the church as a whole during an evening service. The congregation was delighted because they were given very high ratings. Not sure what their reaction would have been if the report was critical!

Like Alison, The WSJ article reminded me of the irreverent and often insightful Ship of Fools Mystery Worshipper segment.

One of the more interesting (disturbing?) quotes from the article comes from the president of one of the church marketing firms. "First-time guests, they don't come with mercy, they come with judgment. They're looking for a reason to leave." After a few years of church ministry experience I actually agree with this... with a major qualification. It seems the judgmental church shopper is often one who has made a career of being dissatisfied with church. The mercy-less newcomer is rarely a non-Christian and more often a Bible expert fluent in Christian lingo. When our efforts are mostly spent trying to satisfy spiritual gluttons we miss the opportunity, as Matt points out, to engage the mission of God.

Lastly, I have to wonder how feasible it is to grade a church from its Sunday morning activities. To really check the pulse, wouldn't the mystery worshipper also have to attend the small groups, check the budget, talk with those the church serves, and determine if church members looked more like Jesus today than last week?

Are there really churches out there whose leaders can't spot a cobweb or a stuffy odor without the assistance of a paid professional? I wonder what their homes and places of business must look like.

What are the implications of viewing a worship service as a product to be consumed? When folks are asked to rate the service according to their own personal preferences, then isn't the focus of the worship service actually the person, not God? Isn't it like saying, "Have we wrapped God in a pleasing enough package for you to keep coming back to our package, and maybe experience God along the way?"

Or should a worship service be rather viewed as a community which brings THEIR "packages"--the good, the bad, and the ugly of their lives--to unwrap before God each Sunday, confessing the bad and the ugly and then offering to God and to one another whatever good one has for the benefit of all?

How, how, how, how, how can a visitor or a company RATE that?

I understand the need to have an outsider come to your church, look at what a visitor might find off-putting, and warn you about it lest you offend. Totally makes sense.

What I find bothersome is the criteria: Hospitality/cleanliness, appearance, and worship experience. Yeah, okay, that's what the pagans look at. But the Holy Spirit has not drawn them into a church to be impressed by the physical appearance. He has drawn them there to be impressed by Jesus. The experience of the people and the building is, as far as visitors are concerned, irrelevant: Can they meet Jesus there? These marketers really don't say.

Now, what they do say is something about the hearts of the people of that church. The outside appearance of the church building—and the attitude and friendliness of the church—does indicate the level of spiritual maturity one might find among the people in it. Those who understand we Christians are meant to love serve one another will, appropriately enough, start by maintaining our building and creating a loving, welcoming environment.

If you don't have that, it's a good sign that your have a church full of lukewarm hypocrites. (Which explains why they'd hire a consultant; they really don't get it, and wouldn't.)

David, what is a "spiritual glutton"? Would that be the person who regularly attends a "worship" service for the express purpose of "worshipping" the Lord?

It would seem from this article that many pastor's see themselves as salesmen of a product that they themselves don't believe in. They don't recognize that the God who called them to preach "... Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness..." is also the one who gives them the strength to do so. It is also God, who through the Holy Spirit "...gives the increase."

hmmmm...just heard about the article today from our senior pastor...it was given to him by a 90 year old man in the congregation...what does that say? we should hire a mystery worshiper? we should consider marketing differently? we should fear for our jobs because things aren't going smoothly? we should be more aware of the areas in which we suck?

i read the book Jim and Casper go to Church and thought, interesting, but i don't really care what he thinks. i don't really care what the mystery worshiper thinks. what i really care about i whether my church is repesenting the gospel holistically and whether we are celebrating Christ's resurrection every Sunday. i can guess what someone might say who comes on a Sunday morning. big deal. i know what i suck at, and i'm working to change those things. hopefully those around me and thse visiting will have a little GRACE. or is that too much to ask of church goers/shoppers?

I agree with you, Brandon. And I share your uneasiness with this practice. Another problem is the motivation of the consultants. Do you really want someone to evaluate your church for financial reward? The only opinion I'd take seriously is one born of a godly desire to see your congregation become more like Christ

Drew

What if a program were set up to send Gospel-educated worshipers from each denomination to each other denomination? You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.

Hmmm my opinion?

It's frankly quite weird. The issue raised at the beginning of the article is that congregation numbers are declining; then the article moves on to this for first-time visitors, a vaguely related topic which isn't linked in to at all.

I find it disturbing that there are people going around getting paid to 'rate' churches - and I can't help but wonder: which church are they going to now? They must miss a lot of their church meetings... I'd also be interested to know how positive a force the people who are doing this 'mystery worshipping' are in their own churches. Do they obsessively analyse every meeting at their home church the same way? Has it damaged their fellowship with their own church in any way?

The selection of criteria is scary. Who says how long a sermon should be? Would they dare mark the Apostle Paul down for length of sermons? After all, he took so long preaching someone dropped dead. And then we come to the disturbing idea of "worship experience"; is this really what worship has come to, that it's just an experience for us and nothing to do with telling God how much we love Him? Has worship really turned into nothing more than "I've gone to church to sing songs and feel good"?

Nah, I don't like it.

"We’re both 'plundering the Egyptians,' but we disagree about what to leave in Egypt and what to take with us when we go."

I think that sums up the problem for me, exactly. While this "professional mystery worshiper" approach definitely sits uneasily with me, it's just another one of those things I've seen in church and thought, "is this a redemptive use of the world's system or is just an adulteration of our own?" It's a question that I'm not sure I've come very far in answering in the time since I first heard the words "contextualized ministry" being dropped into every conversation I happened upon. (By the way, neo-Evangelical buzzwords would make a great topic for an article!)

Although I don't know how this would fully work, I feel like part of the criteria for wisely "plundering Egypt" ought to be the potential for wholly transforming what we plunder. Redeeming "worldly" things - maybe even things like the secret shopper model - is more than just pragmatism. It ought to be more than just a matter of the ends (the Gospel spreading) justifying the mean (a somewhat questionable approach to improving the church experience). Otherwise, we are open to a whole host of unethical options which might "spread the Gospel," (although not a very True Gospel, probably).

How can this "secret shopper" model be transformed such that the model itself and its enaction within the church - not only its results for the church - are redemptive? It's possible that after asking this question thoughtfully, we will be forced to change it into something very unlike, but eternally better than, what we brought out of Egypt.

Yes, this makes me queasy too, for all the reasons you mentioned above, plus one additional huge thing. I think they are missing a significant piece of the puzzle...faithful attenders and/or members of churches who have really delved in and been a part of the church, whether it be in the music ministry, children's ministry, etc. and then stop going, and nobody from the church ever calls or visits them to find out what's going on in their lives.

In my case, I fell into a deep depression after Christmas, when my boyfriend and I broke up. I went to church once at Easter, but other than that had not been to church from January through September. I am in the church directory. Someone could have called me. On Oct. 5 I wrote my pastor a long letter, and he still has not responded. This is abysmal care of the flock in my opinion. I've been back a couple times in September to play in the church band, but my heart is definitely not in it as I thought these people were my church family. Guess not. Retaining people like me is what the church really needs to worry about.

Thank you for your comment, Dawn. I'm sure there are many people who share your experience and feelings on this.