{"id":3095,"date":"2013-07-08T14:56:05","date_gmt":"2013-07-08T19:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtfulpastor\/?page_id=3095"},"modified":"2019-01-28T15:18:53","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T20:18:53","slug":"mystery-worship-series","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtfulpastor\/mystery-worship-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Mystery Worship Series"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"exhaustedI spent much of 2014 and 2015 visiting a different church each week and then writing a newspaper article\/blog post about what I saw and experienced there. The United Methodist Church news organization interviewed me after it was over and wrote of my experience here<\/a>. I thought it was kind of funny how the journalist summarized some of my visits:<\/p>\n

When Thomas had a bad experience, her reports for the newspaper were restrained \u2014 notable more for lack of enthusiasm than for outright criticism. But she would post the columns on her blog and then offer more commentary, a kind of director\u2019s cut of her impressions.<\/p>\n

Of one megachurch where she heard the prosperity gospel preached amid aggressive appeals for money, Thomas wrote on her blog: \u201cI think it is the most evil place I have ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prosperity gospel, Neo-Calvinist theology, lousy biblical exegesis and any worship service where the pastor and praise band\u2019s performance seemed to matter more than the congregation\u2019s involvement in worship \u2014 <\/em>all these were subjects for hot comment on Thomas\u2019 blog. When any of those elements was combined with male-only church leadership, she felt even more need to vent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But I also learned a lot about what our next door neighbors believed and it opened a different world for me.<\/p>\n

If you are interested in my doing a Mystery Worship at your church, please get in touch with me<\/a> and let me know.<\/p>\n

Here are a few of the places I visited:<\/p>\n

Greek Orthodox<\/a><\/p>\n

Reform Jewish<\/a><\/p>\n

Unitarian Universalists and Seventh Day Adventists<\/a><\/p>\n

Prestonwood Baptist Church<\/a><\/p>\n

Jehovah\u2019s Witness<\/a><\/p>\n

LDS, First Try<\/a><\/p>\n

Mormon<\/a><\/p>\n

Muslim\u00a0and Misery for the female<\/a><\/p>\n

Quaker\/Society of Friends<\/a><\/p>\n

Unity Spiritual Center of Denton<\/a><\/p>\n

St. Andrew Presbyterian, Denton<\/a><\/p>\n

Prestonwood Baptist, Dallas<\/a><\/p>\n

Anglican Ash Wednesday<\/a><\/p>\n

Multi-site Village Church<\/a><\/p>\n

Lutheran Church: A Confession Mirror<\/a><\/p>\n

Aggressive Church Planting, Acts 29 style<\/a><\/p>\n

Mystery Worship, Costa Rican style<\/a><\/p>\n

Cowboy Church<\/a><\/p>\n

The Messiah and The Methodists<\/a><\/p>\n

The Performance Church: First Baptist Denton<\/a><\/p>\n

Denton Mystery Worship Nine: Incense, Bells, Exclusion, and the Economy<\/a><\/p>\n

Sick Day Mystery Worship: Sunday Morning Religious Programs<\/a><\/p>\n

Glory of Zion, a Whirling Dervish Service<\/a><\/p>\n

Friendship Baptist: a nearly perfect experience<\/a><\/p>\n

Valley Creek Church, Denton<\/a><\/p>\n

The Frozen Chosen and the AME Church<\/a><\/p>\n

Denton Bible Church: The Subtle Seduction<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent much of 2014 and 2015 visiting a different church each week and then writing a newspaper article\/blog post about what I saw and experienced there. The United Methodist Church news organization interviewed me after it was over and wrote of my experience here. I thought it was kind of funny how the journalist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2704,"featured_media":8296,"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3095","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nMystery Worship Series - The Thoughtful Pastor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Mystery Worship experience taught me about what our next door neighbors believe and it opened a different world for me.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtfulpastor\/mystery-worship-series\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mystery Worship Series - The Thoughtful Pastor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Mystery Worship experience taught me about what our next door neighbors believe and it opened a different world for me.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtfulpastor\/mystery-worship-series\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Thoughtful Pastor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-01-28T20:18:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/667\/2016\/10\/exhausted-angel-e1475938151620.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"240\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"319\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtfulpastor\/mystery-worship-series\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtfulpastor\/mystery-worship-series\/\",\"name\":\"Mystery Worship Series - 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