Mystery Worshipper at St. John’s Savannah
“We all left beaming from ear to ear and felt our spiritual batteries had been well and truly regenerated.” This was the summary of a report from a mystery worshipper from the Ship of Fools website who recently worshipped at St. John’s, Savannah.
I have written here in a previous Loose Canon column (Time for a Hospitality Check Up) both of the value of reading the evaluatons of churches at the site and how asking someone to come worship at your church and give you a report can improve your congregation’s welcome. St. John’s, Savannah, faced the real thing in a guest worshipper reporting for the website, on a weekend with the rector, the Rev. Gavin Dubar, away no less.
While no review is ever perfect, St. John’s comes as close as any church. The review also shows how the congregation hit the perfect balance in not bothering visitors on the way in and leaving the time before the liturgy as reflective, but then following up with a warm welcome to a memorable social time. This together with fine music, a memorable homily, comfortable pews and the beautiful words of the liturgy combined for worship that left the visitor wanting to come back. Certainly there were some concerns with hearing at times with no microphones on the readers or the associate priest, the Rev. Craig O’Brien, who celebrated and preached.
While you can’t arrange for Ship of Fools to send a reviewer to your church, you can benefit from their remarks on other congregations. You can also work with friends from other congregations, or even better those with no church, who might be willing to come unknown to your fellow church goers to experience worship and let you know what they notice. The reports will never be perfect, but honest input from first time visitors is invaluable in improving your welcome.
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I like to be sure to emphasize at every point, we do not do this in order to grow the church (though that may well occur). We should work to improve our welcome as hospitality is part of who we are to be as the Body of Christ. “Love of stranger” which is the literal meaning of the Greek word in our New Testament can be lived out in our churches as well as our communities and to improve we need reports on how we are doing.
So congratulations to St. John’s. I am sure they will work on those areas that can be corrected while enjoying the positive feedback overall. Now the challenge remains for the rest of us. The full review is online here: Mystery Worshipper at St, John’s Savannah.
The Rev. Canon Frank Logue
Canon to the Ordinary
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