I don't really care what religion helps you find that moral compass. But I do think for the most part being part of some religious community does provide folks a sense of values. And speaking of which, apparently there is a company that is putting a monetary value on going to church. I know, I know. I was thrown back by this concept as well. But before you get offended or form an opinion, I encourage you to read more about this company below. Then let me know your thoughts about it. Sound fair?
Faith Perceptions – What is it?
Faith Perceptions was started in 2007 by a group of research and marketing experts (Hendrickson Business Advisors) who thought it would be a good idea to use business solutions to solve church issues. That idea turned into their Mystery Guest Program, which you can pretty much say is a mystery shopping company for churches which gives church leaders the scoop on what first time visitors think and feel about the overall church service. Feedback from the mystery guest is used to help churches grow and prosper. Faith Perceptions is quickly growing throughout the US. At the time of this review the Faith Perceptions BBB rating is A+.
How does Faith Perceptions work?
Well, the Mystery Guest Program needs members to simply visit a church and attend a normal service. Evaluate the service. Provide feedback on your total experience. And get paid for your participation. To break it on down for you … let's get to the nitty gritty of it lol:
- Fill out a free application on the Faith Perceptions website. Basic info is needed since it is a market research based program.
- Your completed application will be reviewed for consideration by the Faith Perceptions support personnel.
- You will receive a confirmation email about the status of your application roughly within 1-2 business days (give or take a day or so)
- Your application will either be approved or denied. In either case email notification will be sent
- If approved, you will decide which churches you want to visit by signing up for service dates and times that work best with your schedule.
- Visiting just any church will not work. Only churches that have hired Faith Perceptions are in the program to be visited.
- Depending on where you are, you may visit a church very near you or you can choose to travel to a church further away. The choice is up to you since you are the one to choose churches from the database listing. Keep in mind that there may not be available churches in all areas.
- If you choose to travel some distance, you may be approved for travel expense reimbursement (if you qualify) but you would have to email Faith Perceptions BEFORE your visit. If you wait until afterwards no travel expense reimbursement will be granted.
- Once your church service visit has been successfully made, you will be required to survey/evaluate your experience.
- If your survey has been filled out completely and approved, and all payment requirements have been made you will receive a payment for each church visit.
How and when does Faith Perceptions pay?
Payment is made to Mystery Guest members in the form of a $45 check for each completed church visit. The following 3 requirements must be met in order for the member to receive a $45 payment:
- Completed and approved church visit survey.
- A church bulletin or program from each visit.
- Your completed W9 on file (filled out during initial sign-up application process)
Faith Perceptions typically processes mystery guest payments on the 15th and last day of the month. Checks are mailed to the address you have listed in the database on the day the payments are processed, so make sure Faith Perceptions is notified if your contact information changes. If payment date falls on a Saturday, payments will process on Friday. If it falls on a Sunday, payment processing will take place on the following business day (which is usually Monday, unless it falls on a federal holiday).
Faith Perceptions Complaints:
We need more church in our lives…
Although the Faith Perceptions mystery guest program is quickly growing across the US, there's still not enough participating churches in certain locations. Demographics are slow to cover a wider area. The program is not yet in all states which makes it difficult for some guest members to stay in their hometowns and visit churches locally.
I don't wanna give up my digits
Most of us are skeptical and uneasy about putting our social security # out there on the “inter web”. The Faith Perceptions mystery guest program sign-up application requires a social security number initially, before the application is even approved. Potential members frown on this because they would rather wait and would feel a little more at ease about giving up their SS digits once they know their sign-up application has been approved. I've seen some companies wait until you reach a certain amount of money before requesting it. So that would be my preference as well. But again this doesn't seem to be a fly by night company trying to steal your identity.
Check mate
PayPal, Dwolla or other similar pay options would be good to have as pay options. But guess what? Faith Perceptions only offers a mailed check as it's payment method. Bummer! Having to wait for a check to come can seem like an eternity. It's my money and I want it now, or at least much sooner than a mailed check!
Zzzzzzzzzz …
Some church services are too long! Most church goers appreciate a nice, meaningful service that doesn't drag on for an eternity. When your eyes start to become heavy and you're yawning all over the place with your head nodding off to the left, to the left, to the left LOL it's time to go! However, as a mystery guest member you are required to remain in service until the end. So you may want to bring along some potent cinnamon candy or mints to pop in your mouth when you feel that drowsiness trying to set in because there's no early exiting allowed.
Time for a commercial, we'll be right back …
Folks wonder if the Faith Perceptions mystery guest program is just a way of trying to commercialize church or buy new believers. But according to Faith Perceptions, their mission is to genuinely help church leaders gather reliable information to be used to create a better experience for new church members. No commercials, no sales.
Faith Perceptions Alternatives
Now that you've read the complaints maybe you're not really feeling Faith Perceptions or any other type of mystery shopping programs. Fortunately there is another option that you may want to consider if you're looking to make some REAL money long term without jumping through the hoops of surveys or being disqualified. If that's you, then be sure to check out My #1 Free Work At Home Recommendation by clicking here! I've used this great company to help me make thousands of dollars per month so I can spend more time with my family and provide me the freedom I want. So if that's something you desire, it may be worth looking into. I'll be the first to admit it's not easy or quick. You'll need to work and have patience. But the pay off is great for those that do.
Is Faith Perceptions a Scam or Legitimate?
Members are being paid, enjoying the program, and some have been mystery guests for a year or more so I'd have to say nah, no scam here. Faith Perceptions has a legitimate “thang” going on.
But do you “feel some type of way” about profiting financially for going to church? I'd love to hear your thoughts. I was a little torn at first but it seems like this is just a way to make the church officials aware of the things they can do to improve their services to bring more people into worship. But I don't know. You tell me by leaving your comment down below.
Thanks for reading. Until next time,
Eddy with a y
This is very interesting! I totally get the different viewpoints on this and I’m mostly okay with the opportunity. It wouldn’t seem right for people to be just doing it for the money but its also possible that a certain church could click with that person and that would be good. If I was truly interested in checking out other churches, I’d be okay with getting paid for thorough feedback. $45 is more than I would expect though. I think people who are truly against church wouldn’t be able to stomach spending their time on doing many of these “shops” anyhow.
Hey Keli,
I agree with you that this opportunity may actually help people connect with different churches and people. So that may be an added benefit. You never know. Thanks for your input!
I don’t know Eddy, I don’t know if I would feel right getting paid to go to church. I was raised as a Catholic and my Dad had me going to church every Sunday, rain, sleet, or snow. Sadly, I rarely go now partly because I never felt very close to other parishioners and wondered why they prayed with me and rushed out of the parking lot after mass. I also have always felt that faith is such a personal thing and you don’t have to sit in a building to have it and do good for others.
Hey Judith,
I was raised with that good old catholic guilt as well. lol So I hear you. Again I think I feel differently because I know the church is hiring these companies to help them improve their relationship with their members. I imagine that a lot of the people that are being picked already go to church anyway and if they can help another church improve and make money in the process, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. But again I can see how this would make some of us uncomfortable. I appreciate your feedback though.
Thanks again, Eddy, for a unique reading experience! This is a whole new ballgame for me…and I thought I’d read it all. I would not be comfortable doing this, but if some people want to visit church services and get paid for feedback, I say go for it. I think it more of a matter of being comfortable with it…being able to sit through hours of sermons, etc. I think one would have to say it is done just for the money, because after awhile wouldn’t one be zoned out by sermon after sermon and not really hear any message? I don’t know..it’s not for me, but really interesting. Thanks, Eddy, for another great article.
Hey Sandy,
I hear ya. When I learned of this company I was like damn you can get paid for anything nowadays. lol And in terms of zoning out of sermons, we all know that even happens now in churches we aren’t paid to go to. lol I think the company probably doesn’t pick the same people over and over again to avoid this. They may just space it out among various people. Otherwise it would definitely skew the results and you might just get people that are in it for the money. So I’m sure they have a method to their madness. In any event, I really appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback.
Hey Eddy with a Y! -I just wanted to say that I appreciate the diversity of ways to make money that you describe! -This post for example (which I personally see nothing wrong with, since it is helping the churches involved, and God wants His people to be prosperous also!) is such a fun, random, and unique possibility,
—You are one of the very few “make money from home” blogs that I have not in subscribed from ASAP after submitting my email address to see what they’re about, lol.
-Keep rockin!!
Hey Jess,
Thank you so much for staying on my list and enjoying what I do. I know there is a lot of garbage out there so it’s good to hear that you don’t feel I fall in that.
In any event, I agree with your view on this opportunity. If you don’t really have a relationship with God or a church, I think folks would find it hard to do this opportunity for any extended period of time. Or on the flip side maybe it brings people into a relationship with God. So who knows. I’m assuming the company probably does some screening to determine the right folks for this. In any event, I appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback and your continued support of this blog!
If that is the way to make money I wouldn’t want to do it I don’t take the House of God for a survey for me to get paid that is just not right to me. But I guess in this world people do anything for money to the point of using the House of God for their benefit from some source that just want to know what is going on in the church, that is as bad as asking for tithes which I don’t believe in either..
Hey Debra,
Your reaction is what I expected from some people. It was my initial feelings as well. But then when I realized that a given church is hiring this company to help them bring more worshipers or improve experience at church, I felt a little differently about it. But I can see this being a slippery slope for some people. Thanks for your feedback. I really appreciate it.
Hi Eddy,
I would wonder how accurate the survey results would be? I think many people would do this for the money only and not from a church going perspective. Aside from that, I understand church attendance is down so churches want to know why and I see nothing wrong with this approach, but they need to be aware not all mystery church goers are genuinely interested in church attendance.
Hey Mary,
You make a great point. The feedback can be skewed by folks that are just there to make money. But I’m sure they take that into consideration based on the pool of people they hire. If you have enough a sample size of people, it will eventually give you accurate feedback. Either way I appreciate your thoughts on this!
Hello Eddy,
It doesn’t sound like you could make very much money doing this because most services are on Sundays at $45.00 per visit with only four Sundays in a month that would only equate to $180.00 per month unless I am missing something in addition that’s if you even have the churches in your area.
Hey Allen,
You’re right. But this isn’t designed to be a full time income. It’s like I always preach, it would be one of multiple streams of income you can earn. When it comes to working at home it’s always good to have various ways to make money. In fact even offline that should be the case. If you’re just looking for one company or opportunity to make most of your income you leave yourself open to a lot of risks if that income is shut down. Anyone that has been laid off knows this first well. So I don’t think it’s designed to be a main source of income. Either way I appreciate you chiming in and sharing your observation. It’s really appreciated!
I don’t know, I don’t have such a good taste in my mouth about church today anyway. So Just don’t think so. Good to hear from you though. I was wondering where you were. I got so much mail ‘re surveys & freebies til I started unsubscribing. I felt overwhelmed, and wanted to concentrate on WA. I do want to set up at least one stream of income while building WA. But which one is the question. BTW, I’m diabetic, have problems seeing very small print. So, I just got through lesson 3, and did that by using my kindle’s magnifying ability. Does WA have that capability? Still checking your site out. Peace.
Churches are like people. You just need to find the right one. Sometimes it means stepping out your normal comfort zone. I learned that from my own experiences with church. In any event, sorry for being M.I.A. I was having issues with my email service and decided that I needed to bring everything in house. So it took a while to get set up.
Glad to hear you’re pursuing WA. In terms of the site’s font size, you can just use your browser’s own features to increase the font. So if you’re using something like chrome, you would just Google how do I increase the font size in chrome. Or how do I increase the font size in my kindle browser, etc. Whatever browser or device you use can handle that. I hope that helps.
Yes Eddy,
That sounds okay but am not into putting the social security number on it or online for any reason, but the idea of going to different churches sounds good but wonder how many people would do it for just the money. There aren’t many churches in my area so many of them probably would be too far away. But it is a nice thought and sounds good.
Hey Laura,
I think a lot of people might just do it for the money since a lot of people do a lot of things for money. So I wouldn’t be surprised. Thanks for chiming in as always.