Words of wisdom are always shared from my Dad whenever we are together. A long visit with Mom and Dad over Christmas vacation was time spent learning and listening. Dad shared about being in a meeting with the "brethren" at the church office building discussing the current status of working/paid custodians. A suggestion was made that maybe the members could help clean the church buildings that they attended, thus eliminating the need for so many paid custodians. The leaders weren't sure that members would do this. My Dad shared an experience of faithful members of the church in our little branch in Danbury, Connecticut who took ownership of their church building by cleaning it every Saturday in preparation for Sunday meetings. I remember cleaning the building with my family--it was our brand new building that we had worked and sacrificed for to even get built. We took great care to keep our building nice, new and spiffy. Families sacrificed their time and were happy to maintain it because we loved "our"chapel and were incredibly grateful that we had a building to meet in. We were appreciative of our building since we had been meeting in schools and other churches for many years. After great discussion church leaders decided to try having the members clean their buildings.Because of the success of that inspired program being implemented with the help of Dad many years ago, my children had the blessing of being able to clean our building in Georgia this past weekend in preparation for our Sunday meetings. We were part of the assigned cleaning crew from our ward that wiped down bathrooms, mopped, dusted, cleaned windows and doors, gathered trash, tidied the chapel and vacuumed. My boys worked hard and did a great job cleaning the Lord's house. I'm grateful for the opportunity our family had to take time out of our busy lives to serve and care for the building that we are blessed to meet in. 
Stephen reads the list of duties that we must complete.
Dallin working hard to rid the building of TRASH!Stephen reads the list of duties that we must complete.
Landon and Dallin make a great team.
I'm not sure when the last time the benches and all the trimwork in the chapel had been dusted but judging by the residue left behind on my cleaning clothe it had been a while!
Good post. I don't think the others before you must have followed the list that carefully, sheesh. Way to go getting the hard task of dusting the corners. It's good to see the kids cleaning the church.
ReplyDeleteGood work from the Carroll family. Everyone needs to learn to clean. (even men and boys)
ReplyDeleteGreat activity for the family. Our ward has just started having families do the Saturday cleaning this year. It is a great idea to teach the children and adults the ownership of the building. Go Carroll Family.
ReplyDeleteOur ward does this but they assign families to do it for four months at a time. So if you get "the assignment" you have to do it every saturday for four months and if you can't you have to find a replacement.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure assigning a family to do it for four months sounds very good. Everyone should have the opportunity to do it. That's a big time comittment, especially if your family has Saturday morning activities/games.
ReplyDeleteGood for you guys. Mike and I enjoy cleaning the church when we have the chance.
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