Mystery Worshipper For Hire

Wall Street Journal ran an interesting article on a new market research ploy to attract and retain worshippers: Hire mystery worshippers. Marketing terms like brand loyalty and customer retention and ecclesiastical watchwords such as church growth and seeker-sensitive used to be strange bedfellows. Now they are often used in the same breath. The WSJ noted the meticulous attention a mystery worshipper does in his undercover inspection which covers anything from sermon to tissue boxes:

"This summer, Mr. Harrison scoured a megachurch in Cedar Hill, Texas, and jotted down a laundry list of imperfections: 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. "I am a stickler for light bulbs and bathrooms," he says.

Mr. Harrison belongs to a new breed of church consultants aiming to equip pastors with modern marketing practices. Pastors say mystery worshippers like Mr. Harrison offer insight into how newcomers judge churches -- a critical measure at a time when mainline denominations continue to shed members and nearly half of American adults switch religious affiliations. In an increasingly diverse and fluid religious landscape, churches competing for souls are turning to corporate marketing strategies such as focus groups, customer-satisfaction surveys and product giveaways.

His critiques can be bruising, pastors say. "Thomas hits you with the faded stripes in the parking lot," says Stan Toler, pastor of Trinity Church of the Nazarene in Oklahoma City, who hires a secret shopper every quarter. "If you've got cobwebs, if you've got ceiling panels that leak, he's going to find it."

One weekend this past summer, Mr. Harrison drove up to Trinity Church in Cedar Hill, Texas, in a bright-red rented Chevrolet. Armed with a digital camera, he trolled the church's grounds and its new $13 million sanctuary, snapping shots of weeds growing in the parking lot, loose lighting fixtures and a fuse box missing a lid. "Please cover as soon as possible," he wrote in his 67-page report. Few staff members were around on a stifling Saturday afternoon, but Mr. Harrison had a cover story just in case: He was a friend of the pastor's visiting from out of town, and was touring to get ideas before renovating his own church.

Before inspecting the church grounds, Mr. Harrison called Trinity early in the morning to test its voicemail, scrolled through the church's Web site and asked a clerk at a nearby copy shop if he knew anything about Trinity. The young man hadn't heard of it.

The next morning, Mr. Harrison -- who has a round, dimpled face, a salt-and-pepper mustache and a talent for blending into crowds -- arrived a few minutes before the Sunday worship service started. He strolled past the coffee bar where dozens of people chatted, past the electronic giving kiosk and into the cavernous, stadium-style sanctuary, where he sat alone in the eighth row. Wearing a short-sleeved shirt rather than his usual suit and tie, Mr. Harrison fit into the boisterous, casually dressed crowd of 800 worshippers. He turned off his cellphone and filled out a visitor-information card. The lights dimmed as a 10-piece rock band took the stage and ripped into a rollicking song. Mr. Harrison discreetly scribbled notes onto a tiny pad tucked into his palm.

The church scored a solid four stars -- three stars on hospitality and cleanliness, four on appearance and five on the worship experience. Mr. Harrison praised Trinity for using ushers ("I just think it's classy," he says) but hammered the church for its coolness toward visitors. "None asked my name. None asked about my church background. None asked about my spiritual condition. None invited me to return," he wrote in his report.

I think there is nothing wrong with using marketing strategies to evaluate and improve our ministries so they become more effective for the sake of the church mission. Surely it won't hurt the church to be made aware that the congregation has been so aloof and detached towards newcomers. In fact, it's good to have third-party observation and perceptions particularly if they are complete strangers who can spot things which are often overlooked by the church ministers, staff, and members. In fact I made it a habit to ask overseas visitors what stands out to them before, during, and after the service, both the positives and negatives.

However, there is a limit to what marketing tactics can and should do in advancing the mission of the church. As it is the church of God, its mission, values, culture, structure, design, system, and practices cannot be dictated by consumers. Instead, it should be aligned with God's sovereign will in each of those areas as stated explicitly or implicitly in the inspired Scripture. Instead of making customers their god, churches have to make God their God.

Hence, if the mystery worshipper says that the pew is not as comfortable as the movie theater down the road, for example, one must perhaps ponder the reason why it was made rather uncomfortable in the first place before considering to do a major refurbishment to compete with the theater. One reason would be that the whole point of coming to church is to worship in obedient gratitude a living, sovereign, almighty God, not to enjoy ourselves with free stand-up talk and upbeat music while sitting in comfy couches while sipping a cup of latte.

More subtle and important here is perhaps the question: Church growth according to who? Toilet cleanliness, ample parking space, comfy pews, nice coffee machines, warmhearted and always-welcoming members, uplifting music, inspirational sermons might attract new folks to the church. And possibly, get their hearts changed to love Jesus. Then we thought that's what matters, people are being converted to Jesus. In the end, we get some of the glory as man-made strategies are being employed as a means to that end.

If we stop and ponder for a second what God says in all these, we will be compelled to ask "Is the change we are implementing honoring God?" If it does not honor God, would we be willing to abandon it and obediently follow God's prescribed method of change. This presuppositional view will help us filter all kinds of church strategies we used.

In his letter to a church which would had been rated very low by church consultants, the Apostle Paul taught the change God prescribed: "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." People are changed when they are smitten by the beauty of God, when they see with their ears the glory of God being preached from the pulpit, when they encounter the holiness of God and as a consequence are made aware of their bankruptcy apart from the grace of God. When the church of God lives to proclaim the glory of God, people do come.

On that note, however, the apostle added that the strategy will prove ineffective with some individuals: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing" (2 Corinthians 4:3). Those who are perishing will not see the glory of God in the gospel, and no marketing strategies will change that fact. The best thing that our man-made efforts can achieve is getting them return and linger in the church, which often is maintained at the expense of the flock of God that needs to be nurtured (today this is called seeker-sensitive strategies).

If the Apostle Paul did not feel the necessity to alter his church strategy because of that, perhaps neither should we.