Terry Mattingly writes the nationally syndicated “On Religion” column for the Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C., and is director of the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. His latest article, “Lessons Learned from Church Spies,” features the story of one spy’s experience. The church spy, Chuck Lawless (evangelism professor and the graduate dean at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary), found just what others in the business of evaluating churches often find: churches rarely do well in truly welcoming newcomers.
So What?
The longer you are a part of the community the harder it is to really imagine much less truly understand how a first time guest is likely to experience your congregation. This is one reason why I am a big fan of church mystery shoppers or “spies.” These objective outsiders can provide a congregation with helpful data about how visitors are really treated.
- Has your church ever employed a spy or church mystery shopper type service? Why or why not?
- How does your congregation measure the effectiveness of providing a warm or even an extravagant welcome to newcomers? when the visit happens on campus on Sunday morning? when the visit is virtual to one or more of your congregation’s online presences?