Moving in mysterious ways

Our Mystery Worshipper is perplexed when they turn up for church but the doors are locked

Read more

  • Current chance of rapture: %

  • Temperature in Hell today: °C

  • Today in Time-travel news

Romanos the Melodist

Time-travel news

Today is the feast of Romanos the Melodist, the renowned 6th century poet and hymnwriter of the Byzantine church
1 Oct

Jesus lends a hand

The worship group goes into meltdown when the jumbo TV screen fails before the service – by Simon Jenkins
9 Sep 23

What we hope for

‘Faith is a sales assistant in a large department store’ – a poem by Rupert Loydell
9 Sep 23

Highway Church, Penryn

A very warm welcome, a decent cup of coffee, and a sermon on Thomas as a biblical superhero
13 Aug 23
Cornwall, UK

Christ’s Church of the Valley, Phoenix

Sermon by video, a communion snack, and ‘delicious coffee and food’ nowhere to be found at a Phoenix megachurch
3 Sep 23
Arizona, USA

St Michael’s by-the-Sea, Carlsbad

An organ and violin prelude top the bill at a service that was ‘high as a kite on its way to heaven’
13 Aug 23
California, USA
St George's, Bickley

St George’s, Bickley

Bells and smells, beautiful music, appropriate hymns, plus delicious coffee and cake
2 Jul 23
Bromley, London

Strange conversations

Rupert Loydell reviews two recent books, each a conversation between friends, including nun extraordinaire Sister Wendy Beckett
22 Mar 23

On holiday with the Lord

Travelling abroad this summer? Why not plan to warm a foreign pew in a church where you don’t know the language?
4 Jul 22
Amanda B. Reckondwyth churches

Mystery, worship, and Miss Amanda

Amanda B. Reckondwyth, long-standing editor of the Mystery Worshipper, processes down the aisle at the end of her service
30 Jun 22

Making the Bible wholly buyable

A new podcast takes a trip through the Bible but leaves one significant item of baggage at home – religion
27 Jun 22
Writz record cover

Looking down the wrong end of a telescope

Rupert Loydell looks back to the collaborations and collisions between church culture and the wider culture in the 1970s and 80s
20 Jan 22

Most popular

St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield

Watching voluminous clouds of incense process down the aisle on Whitsunday
28 May 23
London
St Francis Xavier, Fiji (Exterior)

St Francis Xavier

Impressive mural, lusty singing, plus a large nun
11 Mar 12
Ra Province, Viti Levu, Fiji Islands

Intercessory Prayer Service for Ukraine, St Volodymyr’s Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral

Whose side are you on: God’s or Satan’s?
9 Mar 22
New York City
Church of the Heavenly Rest, New York

Church of the Heavenly Rest

No coffee, no greeting - not even from the purse-sized dog!
24 Feb 13
Manhattan, New York City, USA
Image of St Simeon the Holy Fool

Visit our patron saint

Drop in on St Simeon the Holy Fool, whose Feast Day we celebrate every 21st July
Engraving of the building of Noah's Ark

Tales of a tub

Read a quick history of Ship of Fools, going back to our original launch in 3000 BC
Image of people discussing around a table

Debate without end, amen

Join our forums, where debate has been raging for the whole of this millennium
Illustration of ocean liner

Help us stay the right way up

Ship of Fools is free, but staying afloat costs money. Please give to our Floating Fund
© Ship of Fools