Clean Church

I went to my church this morning to clean it up. This is my month to do that chore. I vacuumed, dusted and polished the furniture this week. Next week I will mop the bathroom floors, the kitchen and the foyer. I really enjoy cleaning the church. It gives one a lot of time to think. There is a lot of work to be done there and we need to schedule a clean up for the entire congregation so we can get the flower beds in shape, plant some more shrubbery and have the carpet cleaned. It always looks lovely after spring cleanup.

We spent nearly a year building this church building. A local contractor put up the building and finished the sanctuary and bathrooms, all but the painting and wallpapering and installation of the booths in the bathroom. When his crew finished, my daughter and I wallpapered the lower part of the foyer and the bathrooms and hung silk shantung in the front of the sanctuary instead of paneling.

A group from Miami, Oklahoma and Vinita, Oklahoma came over on several occasions and were a major help. Woody Wilson led these guys and they put up the walls for the all purpose side of the church and later came back and put all the trim up. Woody even built our kitchen cabinets.

I had just retired and we had a friend that worked evenings and could also do wiring so my husband and I and that friend worked in the all purpose side of the building for three months, wiring, insulating, painting, installing the bathroom dividers and shower doors. The congregation, who were still working helped when they could and as we needed them.

We all worked very hard and everyone donated something toward it's completion. Because we did so much work on this building, we all feel ownership in it.

That's been nearly nine years now and there really needs to be some sprucing up. We are having our sign refurbished now and when it is finished, I will post a picture here of the new official sign.
We are a small congregation of about 25. Luckily, we are a self sustaining church, and we get along fine. We do not pay a pastor. Because I am retired, I have the time to do all the administrative tasks that responsibility brings. The only paid person is the fellow who mows for us all summer.

Our people are all very close and more like family then church members. And that's just the way I like it. We are not obsessed with growth. When someone joins our church, we are delighted but we have folks that attend fairly regularly that do not feel that they must become a member to enjoy the fellowship. We serve a light breakfast on Sunday mornings and have a lively church school class. Our worship services vary as the speakers and presiding elders vary in their approach to them.

Yes, it's the perfect church for the person who likes community.