Ready for Company

My wife insists on cleaning for company. When we have people coming over, especially if they're coming to stay for a few days, she is like a tornado—only one that cleans instead of destroys! When I protest with some weak excuse like, "But the house was clean enough for us," I typically get the feeing I should keep quiet or pick up a broom. (I've learned to stop protesting.)

But the house WAS "clean enough" for us, just moments ago. But it was NOT clean enough for company.

When we have guests, we want to put on our best face. We want our company to see our home at its best. Those who live there regularly will put up with a certain amount of clutter and dust, but we don't want others to see us that way! (The same principle is in play when we post on Facebook or other social media; we tend to put our "best foot" forward.)

What's true in our homes is even more true in what we sometimes call God's house, the church. How we keep the building speaks volumes to guests about whether or not we are expecting them or not. Are we ready for company? Are we hoping for guests? Our building may speak loudly before we ever get a chance to. A clean church is a welcoming church. A sloppy, cluttered church is one guests won't return to.

In many interviews with guests who did not return to a visited church, Thom Rainer has asked why they chose not to return, and over and over again the issue of cleanliness has come up. So while we may say "cleanliness is next to Godliness" (that isn't in the Bible, by the way), we don't do well at living that out all the time. Rainer's list is about as good as you can get. Here are some of the things these guests noticed right away (with a few of my comments in the parentheses):

• Clutter (that members & usual attenders don't see anymore)
• Scarcity of garbage cans (where can I throw my coffee cup away?)
• Odors (why has Glade not released a bottle of air freshener in the "church scent" variety?)
• Unstocked restrooms
• Paper signage (tacky, torn, misspelled words) where there should be permanent signage
• Out-of-date information (there is nothing that drives me crazier than to see a sign outside a church for an event that happened weeks ago—websites, too!)
• Dirty carpet
• Faded paint (again, these last two are things that regular attenders stop seeing)
• Poor lighting

Cathy and I had another friend who cleaned her house every day. She grew up in a home that set an expectation not only of cleanliness but of readiness. You never knew when someone might stop by and you always wanted to be your best. The Church could learn from that friend.

The funny thing is—it's not hard. Many things could be taken care of if we all just took care of our spaces. When you're done with a meeting, clean up the space. Yes, most churches have a custodian or a cleaning service, but their time is limited. They could focus on other things if we all just took a moment to clean our space when we're done. Wipe off the white board. Throw out the coffee cups. Take out the trash if it's full (and replace the liner). If there has been food, take a moment to sweep up or spot clean the floor. We take that kind of pride in our own homes; we should take that kind of pride in God's house and demonstrate that, no matter what day of the week it is, we're always ready for guests.