{"id":589,"date":"2005-03-16T16:44:39","date_gmt":"2005-03-16T16:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lanuera.com\/cmwp\/?p=589"},"modified":"2005-03-16T16:44:39","modified_gmt":"2005-03-16T16:44:39","slug":"holy-spies-to-rate-the-vicars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/?p=589","title":{"rendered":"Holy spies to rate the vicars"},"content":{"rendered":"

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How would St Vincent’s rate?<\/h3>\n

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B<\/span>ritish vicars rarely grumble about people joining their congregations, but a number might be dreading a visit next month by a "mystery worshipper" – the Church of England equivalent of the restaurant critic. <\/p>\n

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In an unprecedented move, as many as 100 specially recruited researchers will turn up incognito in pews across London on April 24 to judge the quality of the Sunday service on offer. <\/p>\n

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The volunteers, using pen names such as "Church Mouse" and "Dunelm" to protect their anonymity, will then post their verdicts on the Christian website at www.Ship-of-Fools.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The exercise has been inspired by the market research techniques of supermarket chains, which send mystery shoppers into their own stores to gather consumer feedback. <\/div>\n

Churches will be judged on the warmth of the welcome, the length and content of the sermon, the music, and even the after-service coffee and the softness of the pews. <\/p>\n

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Mystery worshippers will also be asked to describe the moment that brings them closest to heaven and the moment closest to "the other place". <\/p>\n

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Ecclesiastical "Oscars" will be awarded in categories such as best sermon, best use of music and best overall church. <\/p>\n

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Simon Jenkins, the editor of the website, said: "Our volunteers go to a church they have never been to before and experience the service as an outsider.<\/p>\n

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"For the church being visited, the only clue is the calling card dropped discreetly into the collection plate, bearing the picture of a masked man in Lone Ranger pose." <\/p>\n

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The project began seven years ago and the 1000th report will be published next week on Palm Sunday. This is the first city-wide inspection. <\/p>\n

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The Telegraph, London <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Source: http:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/news\/World\/Holy-spies-to-rate-the-vicars\/2005\/03\/15\/1110649202448.html?oneclick=true<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

How would St Vincent’s rate?<\/h3>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

British vicars rarely grumble about people joining their congregations, but a number might be dreading a visit next month by a "mystery worshipper" – the Church of England equivalent of the restaurant critic. <\/p>\n

In an unprecedented move, as many as 100 specially recruited researchers will turn up incognito in pews across London on April 24 to judge the quality of the Sunday service on offer. <\/p>\n

The volunteers, using pen names such as "Church Mouse" and "Dunelm" to protect their anonymity, will then post their verdicts on the … Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-morsels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/church-mouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}