Cleaning the Church Building

May 11, 1932  The children cleaned the church.  In the afternoon Jake planted maize, and Corney sowed feed.

The Kleine Gemeinde had no paid staff, so each family was responsible for cleaning the church building for one week.  There was a list of families posted on the wall; so when one family cleaned, they would move the marker to the next family.  On Saturday, the building needed to be swept and everything dusted, which was very important during the Dust Bowl when so much dust blew into the building.  Weeds around the building needed to be chopped down or hoed up and the water bucket filled from the hand-pump well for drinking water.  In winter, the family had to come early on Sunday morning to start the fire to warm the building.  There were no restrooms – only outhouses – so these did not require much cleaning.  There was no kitchen and no fellowship hall, so the cleaning was much easier.

In spring in accordance with Mennonite tradition, the entire congregation gathered to do spring cleaning of the church building.  Every surface of the building from floor to windows to ceiling was thoroughly cleaned.  Mennonites believed in having a simple, unadorned church building, but it was spotlessly clean. 

Cornelius and Margaret were fortunate to have four teenage children whom they could send to do the church cleaning.  It was important to a good job because everyone could look at the list on the wall and see who had cleaned that week.