homepage
  click here for gadget for god  
about the ship sign up for our newsletter
community the mystery worshipper gadgets for god caption competition foolishness features ship stuff
mystery worshipper home reports from the uk and ireland reports from the usa reports from australia and new zealand reports from canada reports from elsewhere famous and infamous reports comments and corrections
 
the mystery worshipper
See our archive of reports

Famous/infamous
UK & Ireland
USA
Oz & NZ
Canada
Elsewhere
If you would like to become a Mystery Worshipper, start here.
 
 

3200: Grace Community Church, Surprise, Arizona, USA

Read this report | Other comments

July 17, 2017

Generally a good description of the service. However, to answer the question of why there were not any younger people attending the service: A few minutes of research would have shown the individual that he was in a retirement community where no one under 55 is allowed to live there.

Might be the reason for the "elderly."

Mr William Roeder

Lou M. Christie replies:

Yes, I know. But no one was checking birth certificates at the door. What's to stop a younger person from wanting to attend church, even if he couldn't live in the immediate area? There are other churches along Mountain View Boulevard that do not limit membership to the elderly.

If Grace Community chooses to minister exclusively to retirees, that is certainly their prerogative. But I seem to remember someone once saying, "Suffer little children to come to me, for of such is the kingdom of God."


July 18, 2017

Fifty per cent of our community are "snowbirds" – i.e., they are here only during the winter months and leave for the summer. A good reason for the relatively low attendance this past Sunday.

One other comment concerning our church is the fact that we do minister to any age. In fact, another visitor this past Sunday was an outstanding young man from the Phoenix Police Deptartment who found our church loving and will continue worshiping with us.

I hope the Mystery Worshipper will come again in the fall when all of our people are back.

Robert Williams

 
please give to the floating fund
Easter 2010 reports
Easter 2010
From Yunnan in China to Louisville in Kentucky, we report on Easter services, 2010. Read here.
camino pilgrimage
The Mystery Pilgrim
One of our most seasoned reporters makes the Camino pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Read here.
 
follow ship of fools on twitter
buy your ship of fools postcards
sip of fools mugs from your favourite nautical website
 
      ship of fools