Does anyone here know when they started asking the members to clean the chapels?

"Since 1991 the Church has asked members to take a significant responsibility in the cleaning and care of meetinghouses."

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1995/10/news-of-the-church/caring-for-our-meetinghouses?lang=eng


Although, there were pilot programs in place for a few years prior to that:

"In early 1989 the Church Physical Facilities Department was assigned to prepare and implement a revised meetinghouse maintenance program. Only the stakes in the United States and Canada would be affected because meetinghouses were generally closer together and most were used daily by several large wards. Fortunately, pilot programs had already been conducted in several locations in the United States over a period of five years."

(So it appears that the "every member a janitor" program has not been introduced outside the U.S. and Canada.)

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1991/02/place-of-worship-place-of-care?lang=eng



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2016 06:35PM by lurking in.

In the UK it was brought in around 2010.
All the janitors were "asked" to take redundancy, and cleaning rotas were made for the members.
I often wondered how the previous employees felt about basically being sacked then expected to take their turn in doing the job for free.

Thanks for the update on the outdated information I posted. I guess the program enriched the cult so much in North America that the greedy, moronic "Brethren" had no choice but to expand it!

"Many members at first did not view the changes with a great deal of enthusiasm. One stake president came to an introductory meeting feeling certain that he was not going to be able to support what he expected to hear. But by the meeting’s end, he knew the new program was inspired and was prepared to support it fully."

"But by the meeting’s end, he knew the new program was inspired."

Inspired? By the lord? By the limo-using guys at the top? Only a mormon could consider cleaning a church as an "inspired" idea.

Cleaning the church was going on for a quite some time in different parts of the United States. I didn't really notice the cleaning process for decades.

I probably cleaned the building 7 or 8 times in a decade.

In the Redmond, WA stake, the guy they chose to be supervisor of the then-paid staff turned into a bit of a Nazi; he was authoritarian & somewhat abusive to his underlings... GLAD I didn't ever work for him!

Finally, they demoted him after his abusive personality became evident, it was a Classic Case of what happens when ppl get even minor authority!

What was Most Remarkable ... was that 'everyone' knew what was going on, but Everyone either ignored and/or tolerated it Until the stake authorities booted the guy!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2016 04:18PM by GNPE.

cleaner's (his wife) hours had been cut by half and the members would have to make up the rest. About 15 years ago.

ozc:


are / were U a member of the Redmond Stake?

I lived in the Carnation ward...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2016 05:19PM by GNPE.

I like cleaning the chapel. The Mrs. and I go about once a year.

I like the workdays at my stepdaughter's school more, however. There's sometimes more challenging stuff to do like fence repair or painting. Also, it's a potluck with lots of good munchies.

We also routinely clean the parks we visit. I always have at least one empty plastic bag in my book bag to pick up litter.

Some folks think of cleaning collective spaces as a chore but I've always regarded it as a blessing. I get a little exercise and often meet some nice folks.

most everything in Morland is done by coercion.

Big Difference!

... early 90's.... that means the buildings have 20 years worth of crud, gunk and nastiness built up in them...

Last time I help clean I insisted that things actually get clean. My "group" was assigned the chapel. I made sure that each bench was vacuumed, the book holders were dusted and cleaned, the air return vents were wiped down, and that the woodwork was dusted and wiped down. It took roughly 3 hours, but the chapel was cleaner than it had ever been. Unfortunately, this is the exception not the norm. most groups run a vacuum down the hall and wipe the finger prints off the windows to give the appearnce of clean.

Having members clean the churches was a huge mistake. the buildings have never been messier.

I was in charge of keeping the Stake Center clean for about two years. We had two family wards, stake wide singles ward and of course the stake offices. I would get to my meeting early and vacuum the Cheerios from the previous ward. Then vacuum the Cheerios again from my ward. Make sure all the song books were in place for each meeting which meant I had to go around collecting song books through out the building. If the garbage in the mothers room was forgotten, the smell was horrible later in the week.

I was in a large ward so each family had the opportunity to clean about once a year. I always asked for 3 families each week to help clean.

With all these families leaving, I expect it must be getting hard to find families to clean every week.

The one thing I noticed - Bishops and Stake Presidents and their families NEVER helped clean but their counsellors always did.

Called to clean the toilets is the Mormon way. What a fucked up religion. Glad I was able to escape.

"Bishops and Stake Presidents and their families NEVER helped clean but their counsellors always did."

Leading by example the mormon way!!

It was 2008-2010 time frame. It made total sense too. Members were losing their jobs and incomes were cut significantly. Thus tithing revenues fell like a rock.

In making the change SLC sent a letter to all bishops outlining the change (firing all full-time employee cleaners and making members clean the building). In the letter they outlined three reasons for the adjustment:

1. Youth needed to learn to appreciate the facilities
2. Youth needed to learn how to work
3. This was the best because if wasn't a reason, it was simply a statement: 3. This has nothing to do with saving money.

I shit you not. I remember laughing out loud in my Bishopric meeting and telling everyone I knew about the letter, and how it was just so disingenuous.

OF COURSE IT WAS ABOUT SAVING MONEY. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT?

I thought back then "who is running this place!"

If it WASN'T about money, couldn't they have kept on the paid custodial staff, then, and just apprenticed all the youth under them? That way, the kids would learn to work and would learn it from trained staff, and the custodial staff would still have their jobs. In fact, the custodial staff would gain supervisory experience which might have helped some of them get better-paying jobs elsewhere.

My ex-ward was recently given the "blessing" of cleaning the conference center. Seriously, wtf? The wardhouses are bad enough, but their huge megachurch?