diff --git a/test/test_helper/common.bash b/test/test_helper/common.bash
index b1dd9c41..fd49fabb 100644
--- a/test/test_helper/common.bash
+++ b/test/test_helper/common.bash
@@ -158,4 +158,22 @@ function duplicate_config_for_container() {
     mkdir -p "$output"
     cp -r "$PWD/test/config/${1:?}/." "$output"
     echo "$output"
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
+
+function container_has_service_running() {
+    containerName="$1"
+    serviceName="$2"
+    docker exec "$containerName" /usr/bin/supervisorctl status "$serviceName" | grep RUNNING >/dev/null
+}
+
+function wait_for_service() {
+    containerName="$1"
+    serviceName="$2"
+    repeat_in_container_until_success_or_timeout 600 "$containerName" \
+        container_has_service_running "$containerName" "$serviceName"
+}
+
+function count_processed_changes() {
+    containerName=$1
+    docker exec "$containerName" cat /var/log/supervisor/changedetector.log | grep "Change detected" -c
+}
diff --git a/test/tests.bats b/test/tests.bats
index e9c0dab4..219ceb0c 100644
--- a/test/tests.bats
+++ b/test/tests.bats
@@ -65,27 +65,6 @@ teardown_file() {
   docker rm -f mail
 }
 
-#
-# shared functions
-#
-
-function wait_for_service() {
-  containerName=$1
-  serviceName=$2
-  count=0
-  while ! (docker exec $containerName /usr/bin/supervisorctl status $serviceName | grep RUNNING >/dev/null)
-  do
-    ((count++)) && ((count==30)) && break
-    sleep 5
-  done
-  return $(docker exec $containerName /usr/bin/supervisorctl status $serviceName | grep RUNNING >/dev/null)
-}
-
-function count_processed_changes() {
-  containerName=$1
-  docker exec $containerName cat /var/log/supervisor/changedetector.log | grep "Change detected" | wc -l
-}
-
 # this test must come first to reliably identify when to run setup_file
 @test "first" {
   skip 'Starting testing of letsencrypt SSL'