What is the experience of a first-time visitor really like at your church? Is it easy to find a parking spot? To locate the restrooms? To get the children to the nursery before worship begins?
These are questions that are hard to answer objectively from the comfort of our Sunday morning routine. However, they are important ones for newcomers. The job of a “mystery worshipper” is to provide unbiased answers that churches can use to turn first-time visitors into committed members.
“We want them to fully experience what it’s like to find a parking spot, get in the right door, engage with greeters and the congregation and take part in worship,” said Melanie Smollen, president of Faith Perceptions, a Missouri-based consulting firm that utilizes mystery worshippers as part of its work with churches. “Churches hire us because they want to know if they welcome people and help them get connected or if the church experience feels geared more toward insiders.”
Different backgrounds
Mystery worshippers come from a range of backgrounds. Some are Christians who have moved to a new community and are looking for a church home. Others come from a faith background but have stopped attending church. Some have no interest in faith at all. Though Faith Perceptions works only with Christian churches, Smollen makes it clear to those she hires that the church’s theology is not the concern.
“What we want to glean is how the guest was treated. Were people hospitable? Was it easy to follow along during the service? We are not interested in hearing that the preacher spoke on gay ‘marriage’ or abortion. That’s not appropriate for the research we are doing,” Smollen said.
Key questions
During a visit a mystery worshipper will evaluate a church on several key questions: “What was it like when you entered the building? Overall how friendly would you say the church was to you during your visit? Was it obvious where the children’s ministry was located and that is was clean, secure and well-staffed? Would you return to this church?”
The answers give churches a better perspective on how they are making a personal connection with visitors, Smollen said.
In the business world this is called market research, which might cause some uneasiness in church circles. However, in churches, just like in the business world, first impressions are critical, said Ron Donnini, president and CEO of The Malphurs Group (TMG), a ministry consulting firm based in Texas that also hires mystery worshippers.
“Each church has its own personality and gets about five minutes to make a first impression. Then you’re stuck. Can you change that? Yes. But it’s still there and it is a barrier to people attending the church,” Donnini said. “What we find is that most church people walk in and don’t notice things that are out of place, the clutter, the smells — all kinds of things. A secret church visitor sees all of that.”
A church’s welcoming presence actually starts before a guest comes on Sunday, a fact overlooked by many churches, Donnini said.
“Lots of churches talk about first impressions, but they are talking about once a person walks through the door. Often church leaders are not thinking about digital presence, parking or navigating the campus,” Donnini said. “A high percentage of people searching for a church are going to go online first and see what the church has to offer.”
Though there are websites that publish unsolicited mystery visitor reports, both Faith Perceptions and TMG only use mystery worshippers as part of their consulting work with churches. The goal is not to find “bad stuff” but rather to collaborate with church leadership to figure out how the church can better fulfill its mission. Usually the mystery guest evaluation is just one part of a larger report on the church’s ministries that highlights both strengths and opportunities to improve, Smollen said.
“Most churches have blind spots, which we consider opportunities to improve,” she said. “Our goal is to uncover them so the church can create a more inviting, welcoming experience that makes visitors want to come back.”
Identifying strengths and weaknesses and then developing a strategic plan to move forward is necessary for church growth, said Reggie Ogea, associate dean of professional doctoral programs and professor of leadership and pastoral ministry at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Ogea also has served in local churches and with the Louisiana Baptist Convention during his four decades of ministry and now regularly serves local churches in an interim pastor role. Though much of what he does in that role might be comparable to what a consultant does in the business world, those terms might not fit in church life, he said. The idea is the same, however.
“There are times when churches have a critical need to look at their future. They often need to look at a new strategy, so I come alongside the leadership and provide a different voice and a lot of experience to help them figure out their new direction.”
Outside perspective
Someone with an outside perspective often can be more forthright with church leadership and help them tackle problems head on, Ogea said. Churches that are willing to do that kind of work will be better able to attract and keep new members because the church as a whole is healthier.
“What I see today more than anything else is that change is all around us, and yet it’s amazing how little we want to change inside a Baptist church,” Ogea said. “The churches who are willing to look outside their own little world, listen to those experienced voices and plan strategically are the ones that are going to grow both spiritually and numerically.”
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