Class divides and church (part 1)

Last week at Yorkshire Training I did an introductory session looking at church and class divides.  the aim was to provoke the trainees and others their into think about church.  Here part one of what I shared with them, the rest will follow later in the week.

“To be valued in Britain at the beginning of the twenty first century a person has to be either middle class or ethnic and with no viable way to participate publicly themselves, this leaves white working class people feeling that rather than being valued as the primary movers against unfair hierarchies, they have become, ironically, a block to equality. Meanwhile, when made synonymous with the so-called underclass or non-working class (those for whom the collapse of the community and disappearance of conventional sources of manufacturing employment has had devastating consequences), the white working class way of life…is increasingly portrayed as a cultural disgrace.” Gillian Evans

Society has changed, the divides have grown.  With this dramatic social change we need to ask ourselves as churches have we mirrored the shift society has undergone in terms of attitudes and approaches or have we been counter cultural as we are called to be?  Classism is as much an issue in Britain as sexism and racism. If America’s hair trigger is race ours is class and we have been blind to it. Tragically our churches mirror society rather than stand out from it, they are riven with classism. Church in the UK has become a largely middle class pursuit.

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote this in the late 1970s, it is telling wake up call:  “The impression has gained currency that to be a Christian, and more especially an evangelical, means that we are traditionalists…I believe that this largely accounts for our failure in this country to make contact with the so called working classes. Christianity in this country has become a middle-class movement; … far too often, as nonconformist men have got on in the world, and made money and become Managers and Owners, they have become opponents of the working classes who were agitating for their rights.”

He wrote that nearly 40 years ago and yet the situation remains largely unchanged, in order for us to reach the non-middle class in Britain that needs to change.  If we want to build fellowships that reflect our communities we need to share the gospel with all regardless of class.  We need to build a classless church.  But how?  What are the barriers to this?  What do we do currently that makes our church appeal to the middle classes rather than others?