How many wards meet in your building?


lagarthaaz
 Share

Recommended Posts

Just wondering if anyone else has shared a meetinghouse between four wards? A stake meeting in my area has been called tomorrow and a few people have told me the purpose is to create a new ward, and in fact there is already a new bishop's office ready in the building. 

 

My ward meets at the stake centre, but just last year we went from two to three wards sharing the building on Sundays.. it's taken a real toll on the facilities. Nothing is ever cleaned properly, furniture is scratched, hymn books are ratty and scribbled on (and most books have mysteriously disappeared), graffiti in places, blobs of blackened chewing gum stuck all over the beautiful brick walkways and entrances to the building, crockery, cutlery, long tables and plastic chairs are often 'borrowed' for family functions like weddings and never returned, and last week we found a huge hole in one of the walls. :(  With one of my Primary classes, I had to come early every Sunday with heavy-duty cleaner to remove the graffiti off the chalk and cork boards so the little ones wouldn't have to look at what some kid 'tagged' during a youth lesson. And forget about using the bathrooms on Sunday if you are the third ward to meet... disgusting doesn't even come close.

 

No ward ever wants to take responsibility for the mess (everyone blames the 'other wards'), and cleaning seems to be pointless with so many functions going - a family or two can clean on their allotted Saturday, then an activity happen Saturday night and when you come to church on Sunday you wonder why you bothered giving up two hours to vacuum and clean the toilets the previous day.  Even the industrial vacuum cleaners are mostly broken so cleaning can be really difficult sometimes.  With all the money we have in the church, why can't the bishops or stake get together and pool resources to buy some new ones? There is one photocopier for ward use in the library and it too has been broken for months. Any of us who need photocopying have to use our home copiers, ink and paper - and for us in the Primary Presidency that adds up to a LOT. 

 

Adding one more ward to the mix seems crazy to me...not to mention that our ward meets in the afternoon wreaking havoc with normal routines and hungry, cranky kids in Primary. I dread to think how much worse it's going to get.

 

Just curious if anyone else has experienced this over-use of church buildings and seeming lack of respect for church property? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That sounds frustrating.  I've never seen things that bad.  We have three wards in our building.  Each ward takes a turn being in charge of cleaning the building every week for one year.  Our ward had that responsibility last year.  It's never too hard to clean the building.  The people here are so good at cleaning up after activities.  The wards and parents in our area must be really good at teaching their children and ward members about reverence and respect.  The last ward in the building on Sunday is responsible for stacking chairs and emptying out trash cans.  The first ward to meet is responsible for setting up chairs and cleaning the building every week.  The ward who meets in the middle slot is responsible for clearing the walkways of snow in the winter.

 

Perhaps it's time for each of the wards in your building to have a special Sunday dedicated to learning about reverence and respect.  And for your wards to get together in dividing responsibilities that can be rotated around.  Maybe you can suggest such to your bishop.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My opinion - 

The lack of respect for Church Property has nothing to do with the number of wards that meet there.

 

We currently have 3 meetings in our ward -

9-12 

11:30-2:30

2-5 

And then we have the institute.

 

Our building is just a regular ward building, not a Stake Center, so it is not big.

 

We don't have a problem with cleanliness.  Teachers are assigned to come in 1 hour before sacrament meeting to put up chairs and hymnbooks and do general cleaning of anything that needs cleaning in the chapel.  Deacons are assigned to stay after sacrament meeting to arrange hymnbooks, put chairs back if needed, and general cleaning of anything that needs cleaning in the chapel.

 

Each Sunday meeting - Sunday School, RS, EQ, YM/YW, Primary, etc., have volunteers stay after their meetings to rearrange chairs, clean boards, do general cleaning of anything that needs cleaning in the rooms.

 

This has pretty much become habitual in our ward building - you use a room, you clean the room before you leave.  It has become a ritual that expanded to the activities - youth activities, scouts, activity days, etc., that use the building during the week.

 

And then the wolves, bears, and 11-year-old scouts take turns cleaning the nursery toys every month.

 

That's in addition to the professional cleaning (not sure how often this happens but they do happen) and the family cleaners every Saturday - we have 3 wards - we end up having a family cleaning the church only once or twice a year.

Edited by anatess
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I've met in a building with 4 wards (stake center as well so scheduling was extra tight) but we managed.  Honestly, it sounds as though it's high time people be reminded that it's the *Lord's House* and they should treat it as such.  They also need to be reminded about the commandment not to steal (not returning things is essentially stealing).  As far as cleaning up afterwards - the old adage to leave things better than you found them could be posted on every door.  I might chime in with more later but you get the idea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its not a function of number of wards....  Its a function of attitude.  Too many people in your area seem to have the attitude of "its someone else responsibility to clean up after me"  Until that attitude changes your building will be a mess

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Issue #1)  How many wards in a building?  Right now I'm in a 2-ward-building, but usually I've been in 3-ward-buildings.  I have done 4 + stake functions + it being a charter school during the day.  It was crazy!!  I would totally not recommend it.  

 

Issue #2)  On a different note, if your stake does make another ward, do you know for sure it'll be placed in your building?  It could easily go to a different building, even one belonging to a different stake.

 

Issue #3)  Wow you guys have a bad situation!  I agree with others though, that the problem is not the number of wards, but the cleanness/attitude of the ward members themselves.  I would bring up your concerns to the bishop and/or stake presidency.

Edited by Jane_Doe
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3.

 

My assigned ward meets at 9:00am in a very unusual building.  I think the Church must have purchased it from some other denomination because it looks much more like a Catholic or Protestant church than an LDS meetinghouse.  And it must have been a while ago, because the Church logo out front is the old one with the four lines and smaller "the" and "of."  I always loved that old logo.

 

Chinese ward at noon, YSA at 2:20pm.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Three wards meet in our building.  We have had four before.  The wards take turns with the cleaning.  Right now we have the last time slot, so we put away the chairs.  We haven't had a problem with cleanliness.  Of course with three wards versus  one or two wards meeting in a building, there is going to be more wear on the books, chairs, library materials, etc.  But, I haven't seen an extreme amount of wear-and-tear.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have 3 wards in our building... 9am, 11am, and 1pm. Your starting time depends on what the duties are for your ward. We switch each January with our times. We start right now at 11am. Last year we were 9am, So next year we will be 1pm.

 

We do like some others have already posted as far as setting up chair and taking them down, trash and other duties.

 

If things start getting a little messy, the Bishop will mention in Sacrament for us to remember that there is another ward following us, so please remember to pick up the Cheerios, papers, etc so we leave it nice for them. He's only had to do that twice in the four years I've been in this ward.

 

The only things I ever really noticed was when I was teaching primary at the 1pm time... I always had to erase the chalkboard from the 2 previous times. Not sure why the 11am teacher didn't erase the 9am teachers message. Maybe she used it. LOL

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was a time when two wards and a branch met in our chapel but the branch was dissolved years ago so now its just two wards and some people still say the chapel is too small. Its been probably close to three years now that every sacrament meeting, when the person conducting gets up to announce the intermediate hymn and the final speaker, that they will remind the congregation to clean up after themselves in the chapel, to replace the hymn books, stack the chairs and clean the boards. The counsellor in the bishopric who first started doing this was released about two years ago but other members of the bishopric followed his lead and continued to make the same announcement each week. This same counsellor could sometimes be seen vacuuming the chapel early on Sunday mornings if he didn't think it was clean enough. I suspect that these things would continue to happen each week even if members were not reminded of it but I guess there is no harm in repeating the message. I don't believe the other ward makes a similar announcement in their meetings. Its also my observation, and not just me, that when its the other ward's turn to clean the chapel, they don't do it as well as our ward does but nobody seems to get really bothered by it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, we went to the movies today on the theater on the other side of the bridge.  We rarely go over the bridge as it's "outside our neighborhood".

 

I'll never go to that theater ever again.  We went inside the theater at 5 minutes before showtime and the theater was littered with trash!  Okay, first off, I've never been to a theater where it is not cleaned in between shows by the theater staff.  And secondly, I've never been to a theater where people just leave their trash on the chairs!  There were popcorn bags, plastic containers and candy wrappers on the floors and chairs and empty drink containers sitting in the cup holders.  And the theater looked like they left open a popcorn machine in the middle of the balcony and popcorn blew up all over the place!

 

There were only 4 of us who were there and the other 2 also walked out immediately after walking in and seeing the mess.  They were just as surprised/disgusted as we were.  So the 3 of us sat on the bench by the door while my husband went to track down management.  Right at showtime - my husband was still not back - lots of people started trickling into the theater and they stayed inside... I was like - hmm... do the staff have their own entrance into the theater or something?  So, the 3 of us went back in... and found all these people sitting in the middle of all the trash.  I saw people pick up the empty drink cups and trash on the seats and dropping them on the ground kicking them down the stadium seats or just crushing them beneath their feet.  My husband finally showed up with staff who half-heartedly started cleaning around all the people... so we sat 3 rows from the screen because it was relatively clean.

 

The show ended and sure enough, people just left all their trash all over the place!  This was a late show so when we got out of the theater to the parking lot, there were only a few cars left.  I stood there in the middle of the parking lot just unbelieving of what I see... there were trash all over the parking lot.  Crumpled burger wrappers flying through like in a western movie, crushed drink cups all over the place, and even styrofoam containers with food still in it just left in the middle of the parking lot!

 

This is just over the bridge from my side of town... not more than 20 miles away.  I felt like I was in a 3rd world country.  What kind of people are these that live here???

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

This is just over the bridge from my side of town... not more than 20 miles away.  I felt like I was in a 3rd world country.  What kind of people are these that live here???

Well...am I being oversensitive or is this an allegory and are you telling me I'm being too judgmental? 

 

You've really got to wonder...  it's not that hard to just pick up after ourselves surely.

Edited by lagarthaaz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the responses everyone. This is the first meetinghouse I've been in where I've seen this sort of thing, and while it shocked me at first I've learned over six years to swallow my irritation because it won't change anything. It probably seems whiny, but I really can't stand sitting in church where someone dropped dirty tissues or food wrappers, and then opening up thy hymn book to see it's been used as grafitti practice...the worst was one Sunday not long ago when I grabbed the edge of the pew to get comfortable and it felt all slimey... I lifted my hand to find a huge blob of snot on my fingers - yes - for real. Even the sacrament trays are dirty - don't the priesthood teach the boys to wash them or anything?   Hearing that we might be adding another hundred or more people to the mix made me briefly want to flee to the 'zion side of town' ward where they don't seem to have these challenges. 

 

Today the announcement was that not one, but two more wards have been created, both language based, but only one will meet in the stake centre while the other is at a chapel about 20 minutes away.  It doesn't look like the change will add more people who use the building, but will allow people who prefer to worship in their traditional language to do so in their own ward time-slot. This is something some of the cultural groups in this area have been praying for, for many years.  That's awesome for them.

 

Meanwhile, I guess nothing much will change as far as treatment of the building goes. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The last ward in the building on Sunday is responsible for stacking chairs and emptying out trash cans.  The first ward to meet is responsible for setting up chairs and cleaning the building every week.  The ward who meets in the middle slot is responsible for clearing the walkways of snow in the winter.

 

Perhaps it's time for each of the wards in your building to have a special Sunday dedicated to learning about reverence and respect.  And for your wards to get together in dividing responsibilities that can be rotated around.  Maybe you can suggest such to your bishop.

That sounds really well organised. Our ward is the last to meet and we do stack chairs, vacuum, lock up, etc. But by the time we come back the next Sunday we are left with everyone else's mess to clean up.  I will talk to bishop about maybe having our fifth Sunday lesson (when he gets the whole ward together during Sunday School time) to discuss this. It will only work if the other wards follow suit... it could happen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I've met in a building with 4 wards (stake center as well so scheduling was extra tight) but we managed.  Honestly, it sounds as though it's high time people be reminded that it's the *Lord's House* and they should treat it as such.  They also need to be reminded about the commandment not to steal (not returning things is essentially stealing).  As far as cleaning up afterwards - the old adage to leave things better than you found them could be posted on every door.  I might chime in with more later but you get the idea.

I would love it if signs were up on doors in every room...just something simple like 'Please be sure to stack the chairs and leave the room clean and tidy' would be great. (oh, and don't wipe your snot on the church pews - thanks!'  would be good too) :mellow:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Issue #1)  How many wards in a building?  Right now I'm in a 2-ward-building, but usually I've been in 3-ward-buildings.  I have done 4 + stake functions + it being a charter school during the day.  It was crazy!!  I would totally not recommend it.  

 

Issue #2)  On a different note, if your stake does make another ward, do you know for sure it'll be placed in your building?  It could easily go to a different building, even one belonging to a different stake.

 

Issue #3)  Wow you guys have a bad situation!  I agree with others though, that the problem is not the number of wards, but the cleanness/attitude of the ward members themselves.  I would bring up your concerns to the bishop and/or stake presidency.

Yes, for sure too many people in the building is just not ok.  It seems easy enough to say just build another chapel to hold everyone, but the problem here is that we have plenty of church members, but many who refuse callings so there just aren't enough willing hands to 'staff' any more buildings I guess.   And yes, one of the two new wards will be in our building, but as I mentioned before it's a language based ward so it will just shift the same population around at a different time of day.  I am going to see Bishop this week... I suppose I just assumed he was aware of the situation, but maybe he isn't. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't discount your voice!  Someone obviously needs to speak up so why not you?!  Honestly, I've taken matters into my own hands before (and am about to again).  I also brought up an issue with the ward council (mentioned the problem, offered a solution as well as my efforts to execute).  Things haven't necessarily been followed (I didn't expect perfection but now they know someone's paying attention) but at least I did something and am no longer just sitting there being bothered.  The environment is important and has an impact on reverence and the ability to focus on learning (it's even mentioned in Teaching, No Greater Call) so speak up and act (type up some signs!) until others get a clue.  You never know how many others have been thinking the same thing and would appreciate your voice for change. Consider it anonymous service!   :)

Edited by notquiteperfect
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My building has two wards now, I've been in it with three and it once had four. We have a few dedicated people who care for the building. They do more than their share of cleaning and we all benefit.

 

Care for the buildings is a cultural problem in the Church, in my opinion. The same with reverence in meetings. Both can be addressed by leadership. It takes time to address the culture of any one ward, much less three or four sharing a building. It can be addressed. My ward did a great job addressing reverence. It took several talks a year, plus verbal reminders from the stand,but time changed our ward. When we have LDS visitors and move-ins, they express shock. A new sister recently bore her testimony and said she was concerned when she sat in the chapel the first time and thought she moved into a ward without children. Then she saw the kids sitting quietly. She immediately worried about her children not being reverent enough and if would they fit in. They were fine. Reverence begets reverence. 

 

The same goes for reverence of the building. People need to be told. It is unfortunate. It may take a year of focused effort, but I think if people started caring, it would be noticed and others would care. That was the plan when the Church took away regular custodians and asked members to care for the building (a plan hatched by bureaucrats, in my opinion). The Brethren may have felt the inspiration of the promise of the program, but it has generally failed in execution - as the OP's post testifies. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't discount your voice!  Someone obviously needs to speak up so why not you?!  Honestly, I've taken matters into my own hands before (and am about to again).  I also brought up an issue with the ward council (mentioned the problem, offered a solution as well as my efforts to execute).  Things haven't necessarily been followed (I didn't expect perfection but now they know someone's paying attention) but at least I did something and am no longer just sitting there being bothered.  The environment is important and has an impact on reverence and the ability to focus on learning (it's even mentioned in Teaching, No Greater Call) so speak up and act (type up some signs!) until others get a clue.  You never know how many others have been thinking the same thing and would appreciate your voice for change. Consider it anonymous service!   :)

Thank you, I guess there is a part of me that doesn't want to go to bishop with a complaint, as he has a difficult enough job dealing with other issues in the ward. He is marvelous, but I see him looking more careworn every year and don't want to add to his burden. The issue has to be addressed though...and I'm trying not to be mean here, but everyone in the Stake knows which ward are the graffiti/snot-wiping/chewing-gum-spitting/wall punchers with the wild and crazy kids who scream around the chapel on Sunday and crash into everyone else.  We meet right after them - we know who they are. As you can imagine it would be difficult for anyone to go to the bishop of that ward and tell him how annoyed other people are by the mess and lack of respect we have to put up with from his flock. It's a bit of a complex issue, but something has to be said!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the church does need to hire more people for building maintenance.  Our buildings vacuum cleaners are damaged and beginning to fail.  One of our drinking fountains has not worked in years.  The side walk is chewed up and destroyed in certain areas around the building.  The sound system was cutting out and turning back on for over six months so you could not hear the speakers.  It is still having some problems.

 

Our ward is pretty good about taking care of the building but there are things that are just not being done that the ward members cannot take care of.  I have seen this in a few buildings I have been in since they cut back hard on church building maintenance staff.

 

My building has two wards now, I've been in it with three and it once had four. We have a few dedicated people who care for the building. They do more than their share of cleaning and we all benefit.

 

Care for the buildings is a cultural problem in the Church, in my opinion. The same with reverence in meetings. Both can be addressed by leadership. It takes time to address the culture of any one ward, much less three or four sharing a building. It can be addressed. My ward did a great job addressing reverence. It took several talks a year, plus verbal reminders from the stand,but time changed our ward. When we have LDS visitors and move-ins, they express shock. A new sister recently bore her testimony and said she was concerned when she sat in the chapel the first time and thought she moved into a ward without children. Then she saw the kids sitting quietly. She immediately worried about her children not being reverent enough and if would they fit in. They were fine. Reverence begets reverence. 

 

The same goes for reverence of the building. People need to be told. It is unfortunate. It may take a year of focused effort, but I think if people started caring, it would be noticed and others would care. That was the plan when the Church took away regular custodians and asked members to care for the building (a plan hatched by bureaucrats, in my opinion). The Brethren may have felt the inspiration of the promise of the program, but it has generally failed in execution - as the original poster's post testifies. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The same goes for reverence of the building. People need to be told. It is unfortunate. It may take a year of focused effort, but I think if people started caring, it would be noticed and others would care. That was the plan when the Church took away regular custodians and asked members to care for the building (a plan hatched by bureaucrats, in my opinion). The Brethren may have felt the inspiration of the promise of the program, but it has generally failed in execution - as the OP's post testifies. 

Getting rid of the custodians was not the greatest idea- the decline in the standard of the buildings is evidence of that. I remember being in a branch when that change occurred many years ago, and our custodian lost the job that supported his wife and four children.  I'm sure the original plan was to 'save' money, but I wonder if all the repairs balance that out. For example in our building three out of the four industrial vacuums need replacing, the library and stake president's photocopiers need replacing, the brickwork is falling to bits outside on the paths, kitchenware and furniture have all gone walkies to who knows where, classroom boards are a mess from the graffiti..how much must all that cost to replace in total? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anytime there is more than one Ward in a building there seems to be lots of finger pointing. We have two in our building and we have blame the other Ward syndrome as well.

Yep, that is too true.  I know 'we' in our ward do it.  But that's because we know who the majority of the culprits are :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share