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Every week a different fellowship will take charge of cleaning up the church. These pictures are from back when we still had the awful vertical blinds that fell off the window frame with the slightest pull. Thank God for the new ones!
A whole lot has changed since these pictures were taken. You can see Bao painstakingly putting in the new carpet, peering closely at the ground to make sure every inch is laid down perfectly. The window blinds have since been replaced with simple pulldown curtains. And the stage–that’s a whole other post in and of itself 🙂
At this point we all have our workload figured out. The very first step is always to stack the chairs high so the vacuum people can do their thing. In the dining hall and kitchen, others will be busy sweeping and then mopping the floor with inefficient tugs (or maybe that’s just me). So much to do besides that: clean out the fridges, vacuum the back of the church, wipe down the kitchen counters, Swiffer-mop the stage…
The fun part is when we don’t realize it’s our turn to clean and get the last minute text from someone who’s noticed that we’re up next.
Which is when we all go into panic mode.
But we always pull together and the job gets done. There was even one time we finished everything in record time (45 minutes), and ordered a pizza to celebrate as we cooled down from the work. It’s always fun to take care of the church together, and it really feels like teamwork because everyone pitches in without holding back. After all, this isn’t just a job to get out of the way–it’s a chance to help maintain God’s house so others can come and enjoy His Word without being distracted by random cobwebs or trash on the ground. So really, cleaning up the church is a task and a privilege we all savor.
I think we should probably rotate duties though. I’ve become an amateur expert in sweeping and mopping the dining hall, but haven’t even touched the vacuums yet -_-
I can totally relate to the amateur expert part! I started to clean other things so that I could learn how to do that stuff too. But then does that just make me mediocre at everything? Lol
Better to be mediocre than to have no clue how to do it! Of course, I’m not speaking from personal experience…um…
This is true. I am thankful even to be able to clean the church or to clean the bathrooms. It is even something that I look forward to when we clean on Sunday or the select times I clean the bathrooms. Sometimes when there is no one at the church I am singing and dancing between the restrooms to clean them. Only because of Jesus can cleaning become an unforeseen privilege.
I’m revisiting this post and it’s a good reminder that cleaning is a privilege. I think I should read this post every time it’s my turn to clean to help me have a good attitude about it
It’s such a blessing to clean up the church! Although no one may see us, recognize us, or praise us for our cleaning. It’s a very practical way to live as nameless servants and to co work together with our fellowships.
In my old life in the world, I never saw cleaning as an unforeseen privilege, and I always grumbled whenever I had to clean something (like my room). But cleaning the house of God has always been a fun experience for me.
Just like what you said, this also serves as a training for me to be an expert in cleaning (especially mopping the stage), and this even gives me the much needed workout. Haha.
I also noticed that each fellowship has a unique cleaning style, and some even clean some areas that are untouched by other fellowships.
I’m encouraged even more to be diligent in cleaning our church and my own heart. Gotta scrub very hard that dirty lingering sin matter that sticks to my heart
Actually yeah after posting this I learned that we were actually supposed to clean much more than that, so 45 minutes means we must have missed some stuff…whoops! Agreed on the much needed workout LOL