While Black Friday is the peak shopping time for retailers, the holiday season is the busiest time for churches. From Thanksgiving to New Year’s, church facilities are in high demand as congregants celebrate religious holidays and host friends and family for holiday gatherings.
To ensure that your church can accommodate the increased traffic during the holiday season and stay clean and safe for everyone, it’s important to follow some basic tips for preparing your facility.
Inspect your building and make any necessary repairs.
Before the holiday rush, take some time to walk through your church building and look for any potential hazards or areas in need of repair.
If you have a large facility, consider hiring a professional to do a thorough inspection. This will help you identify any potential problems so that you can fix them before they cause any damage or accidents. If you have a smaller facility, you may be able to do the inspection yourself.
Once you’ve made a list of repairs that need to be made, prioritize them so that you can take care of the most urgent ones first. If you’re short on time or resources, focus on repairs that will help ensure the safety of your congregation, such as fixing any loose tiles or repairing any broken handrails.
Clean and declutter your church.
A clean and clutter-free church will be more welcoming to guests and easier to navigate. In the weeks leading up to the holidays, take some time to deep clean your facility and get rid of any unwanted clutter. This includes dusting, mopping, vacuuming, and cleaning all surfaces, as well as decluttering common areas, such as the entryway and sanctuary.
If you have a team of volunteers, enlist their help to make the cleaning process go more quickly.
If the task is too daunting to tackle on your own, consider hiring a professional cleaning company to do a deep cleaning of your church before the holiday season begins.
Establish a Team to Set up and Takedown
The holiday season often means more events at your church, which can be a lot of work for facility managers. To make things run smoothly, it’s important to have a team in place to help with setup and takedown.
This team should be responsible for setting up and decorating your church for holiday events, as well as taking everything down afterward. They should also be available to help with any last-minute tasks that need to be done, such as moving furniture or setting up audio/visual equipment.
If you don’t have a team in place already, start recruiting volunteers a few weeks before the holiday season begins. This will give you time to train them and assign tasks so that no detail is overlooked.
Create a cleaning schedule
With an increase in holiday gatherings and events, your church will likely see a lot more foot traffic than usual. To keep your facility clean and safe for everyone, it’s important to create a cleaning schedule that can be easily followed by your staff or volunteers.
Be sure to include all common areas in your cleaning schedule, such as the entryway, sanctuary, bathrooms, and any guest areas. Depending on the size of your church and the amount of traffic you’re expecting, you may need to increase the frequency of cleanings during the holiday season.
If you’re working with a commercial cleaning service, they should be able to provide you with a customized cleaning schedule that meets the increased needs of the holiday season.
Conclusion
Preparing your church for the holiday season doesn’t have to be a daunting task. By starting early, you can ensure that your facility is in top shape and ready to welcome parishioners and guests.
If you have any questions or need assistance preparing your church for the holidays, contact 1 Stone Solutions today. We specialize in helping churches and religious organizations with their facility needs and would be happy to help you get ready for the holiday season.
