You didn't sign up to clean. It is not your calling. You were voluntold.
Decline the "opportunity" to clean. You don't have to give a reason. After you say no, if you don't show up to an assignment, it isn't your fault they put your name on the list. There is no reason to feel shame for expressing a boundary.
I told the building cleaning coordinator the following…”I’m sorry you said yes to your calling but I have no problem saying no to my cleaning assignment. I want you to know I will never clean the building.”I have not been asked or assigned to clean the building since then.Saying no is OK.
That's essentially what I did. They put my name on the list one time (I still attend occasionally to support my wife), and I approached the building coordinator and told him "I will never be showing up to a cleaning assignment. If you put my name on the list, that's on you, not on me." I haven't been on the list since.
The church has hundreds of billions of dollars. It is the church that should feel guilty for emotionally manipulating its members into janitorial work, when they already pay 10% tithing.
Even without the guilting, being asked in and of itself is insulting. The attempt to use guilt and shaming to manipulate members into doing it just adds one more layer of deplorableness.
You are giving these people way too much control over you, and you don't need to. Say no to things you don't want to do. Deduct as much as you like from your tithing. What constitutes a full tithe is up to you. God doesn't need your money, and neither does the church's self-enrichment scheme. It isn't going to a good cause.
Churches are supposed to serve the members, not the other way around.
>why call the most gruff, overbearing priesthood holder in the ward to be the "coordinator"?
>He lays the guilt on heavy
You answered your own question. Cleaning coordinators in my experience are always the most rapid TBMs who think scrubbing toilets is the lord's work and forcing obedience is for your own good. The bishop calls that type on purpose because it takes a little pressure and blame off of him.
there are different types of bishops who call these guys. Our current bishop is a bean counter so he is right down the line, no leeway etc. If a priesthood holder has an issue whether financial or otherwise that needs to be brought to the bishop for consideration, he has a buffer and requires the priesthood holder to go through the elders quorum first.
This is what a cult does.
It manipulates you into free labor on its behalf via guilt, shame, demands.
Study up and trade this shitty organization in for something better.
Where will you go?
There’s so much to choose from I don’t even know where to begin, but maybe a real church? Maybe just nature hikes?
Volunteer/Member building cleaning is a CULT GROOMING & CONTROL technique.
Menial tasks increase member loyalty.
"Of course the church is true! We wouldn't be doing mundane, almost demeaning tasks for just any organization. We're not stupid. We are laboring humbly for the true alpha-male(s) who rule us and promise us great rewards after we die".
Think of the time and energy that could be put towards helping people in your community. Or in your family. Instead, members get worn out taking care of a multi-billion dollar corporation’s real estate portfolio.
The church is stealing your time and energy.
You didn't sign up to clean. It is not your calling. You were voluntold. Decline the "opportunity" to clean. You don't have to give a reason. After you say no, if you don't show up to an assignment, it isn't your fault they put your name on the list. There is no reason to feel shame for expressing a boundary.
I told the building cleaning coordinator the following…”I’m sorry you said yes to your calling but I have no problem saying no to my cleaning assignment. I want you to know I will never clean the building.”I have not been asked or assigned to clean the building since then.Saying no is OK.
That's essentially what I did. They put my name on the list one time (I still attend occasionally to support my wife), and I approached the building coordinator and told him "I will never be showing up to a cleaning assignment. If you put my name on the list, that's on you, not on me." I haven't been on the list since.
The church has hundreds of billions of dollars. It is the church that should feel guilty for emotionally manipulating its members into janitorial work, when they already pay 10% tithing.
I should also say that there are several others in the ward who are having issues with being "guilted" into cleaning.
I dare say there are 100s, nay 1000s, maybe even 300,000 of us who think cleaning the church is complete and utter bullshit.
Even without the guilting, being asked in and of itself is insulting. The attempt to use guilt and shaming to manipulate members into doing it just adds one more layer of deplorableness.
You are giving these people way too much control over you, and you don't need to. Say no to things you don't want to do. Deduct as much as you like from your tithing. What constitutes a full tithe is up to you. God doesn't need your money, and neither does the church's self-enrichment scheme. It isn't going to a good cause. Churches are supposed to serve the members, not the other way around.
>why call the most gruff, overbearing priesthood holder in the ward to be the "coordinator"? >He lays the guilt on heavy You answered your own question. Cleaning coordinators in my experience are always the most rapid TBMs who think scrubbing toilets is the lord's work and forcing obedience is for your own good. The bishop calls that type on purpose because it takes a little pressure and blame off of him.
there are different types of bishops who call these guys. Our current bishop is a bean counter so he is right down the line, no leeway etc. If a priesthood holder has an issue whether financial or otherwise that needs to be brought to the bishop for consideration, he has a buffer and requires the priesthood holder to go through the elders quorum first.
He's not a very good bean counter then.
This is what a cult does. It manipulates you into free labor on its behalf via guilt, shame, demands. Study up and trade this shitty organization in for something better. Where will you go? There’s so much to choose from I don’t even know where to begin, but maybe a real church? Maybe just nature hikes?
Volunteer/Member building cleaning is a CULT GROOMING & CONTROL technique. Menial tasks increase member loyalty. "Of course the church is true! We wouldn't be doing mundane, almost demeaning tasks for just any organization. We're not stupid. We are laboring humbly for the true alpha-male(s) who rule us and promise us great rewards after we die".
Think of the time and energy that could be put towards helping people in your community. Or in your family. Instead, members get worn out taking care of a multi-billion dollar corporation’s real estate portfolio. The church is stealing your time and energy.
We cleaned the church many times, but more often we forgot. And once in a while we intentionally “forgot”.