Who Is Responsible for Church Maintenance?

Christians began meeting in designated church buildings in the 3rd century. Since then, churches have become commonplace structures in communities in Western nations where Christianity has been the most common religion practiced by citizens.

Today, church attendance is waning, and that’s shifted priorities for some Christian denominations. While many go to a physical church building for Sunday services, home churches are a popular alternative, and other congregations rent space for services in schools or other buildings. The responsibility of church maintenance may vary based on the church’s location. Let’s look at who maintains different churches and some of the tasks involved in regular church maintenance.

Church buildings may hire a janitor.

Building maintenance is essential for any public facility. It’s common for churches to hire a janitor who maintains their building. Janitors clean buildings, restock supplies, purchase supplies, and perform minor repairs. Janitors also perform exterior maintenance. Their duties could involve shoveling sidewalks or hiring contractors to clear the church parking lot. They also identify systems that are in disrepair and take steps to ensure they have those systems fixed.

Church janitors may perform additional tasks, such as maintaining seasonal decorations and decorating church facilities. They may hang LED Christmas lights from the roofline of the church building in the weeks before Christmas to acknowledge the holiday. Church janitors may help determine which lights to buy. When choosing between Christmas lighting options, janitors help determine how long the light strings need to be to cover the intended surfaces and variables that could affect whether the church opts for icicle lights or regular string lights. They may also recommend battery-powered Christmas lights if they don’t have access to outlets. Churches can opt to hang LED lights, which use less energy than incandescent bulbs.

Your church janitor can also decorate your church’s interior and ensure these decorations are maintained. Many churches put out an Advent wreath with Advent candles in the weeks before Christmas. Lighting the Advent candles is a symbolic gesture demonstrating the congregation anticipates the day when they celebrate Christ’s birth. Using an Advent candle holder is an excellent way to secure Advent candles to ensure they don’t topple over when they’re lit. Your janitor may also suggest investing in plastic shields that catch wax when it drips from the candles, protecting the wreath and furniture below the candles.

Home-based churches may rely on a volunteer system.

Home-based churches meet in people’s homes. Some home-based churches meet in one designated home, particularly if they’re a larger home-based church congregation that needs plenty of space. Other home-based churches alternate and move from house to house.

Homeowners look after tasks such as having the HVAC system serviced and cleaning the gutters. Event-specific maintenance can be handled in several ways. You may need to set out chairs for congregants and put out other resources, such as hymn books and Bibles. If your church moves around from place to place, your church will need a secure place to store them and the ability to transport the items to the home hosting services each week.

In this case, your church could opt to hire someone to load, transport, unload, and set up these resources. Churches with a limited budget may rely on volunteers to perform these types of tasks. Hired staff or volunteers may also provide event-specific maintenance, such as sweeping or vacuuming after the service.

Churches that rent facilities may enjoy limited maintenance responsibilities.

Renting a room for services is more affordable than buying or constructing a dedicated building. Your rental agreement will outline your responsibilities. You may be responsible for light cleaning tasks, such as sweeping the floor after use or putting chairs away, but it’s unlikely you’ll be responsible for extensive exterior maintenance. Building maintenance staff typically handle shoveling sidewalks, cleaning gutters, stocking bathrooms, and cleaning entryways. Light cleaning may be divided among volunteers from your congregation, or you could hire a maintenance person to perform those tasks.

Church maintenance involves weekly and seasonal tasks required to look after church facilities. Those tasks and who performs them may vary based on whether your congregation meets in a church building, home, or rented facilities.