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?

Church planting, the Church and the UK

As Christians we need to be honest and recognise that just like the world we live in things go through trends and phases in churches, its just that we are very good at backing them up with biblical evidence to support our point.  One case in point is church planting, it seemed like every conference you went to a few years ago was about church planting, but interestingly this has stopped being the case.  Those conferences were incredibly helpful for those of us who in that time planted churches, it helped us see the biblical principles in Acts, it helped us see the early church foundations and the freedom afforded in everything else.  But I can't help but wonder if in focusing on planting we have missed somethings:

1. Planting isn't regenerating
Britain is different from America or Australia, in Britain there are loads of churches.  Doncaster is weak in terms of church attendance but just driving into town from our house we will pass 7 church buildings.  England has loads of church buildings, it is just that most of those church building don't contain church - a gathered people loving and serving their Saviour and Lord listening to his word.  Even where there are faithful churches many are ageing and will die out in the next 15-20 years and close their doors for good.  Others are small congregations who are faithful, love the bible and who are looking for a pastor, but don't have one because there is a shortage of pastors in the UK.

Church regeneration is hard, it doesn't seem to have the glamour and glitz of planting a new church but as Mike McKinlay puts it in his book it is a win win, it can remove a bad witness to Jesus and install a new witness to Jesus.  But you won't find too much church regeneration in Acts, though interestingly Paul seems to send Timothy and Titus to regenerate churches which need to be put back firmly on the straight and narrow.  Interestingly that isn't often a theme which is picked up on or features at conferences.

2. Recycling the flock
I guess one of my other questions about planted churches is how much new growth are we actually seeing.  The planted churches may be growing but the vast majority of these seem to be planted in university towns and cities and seem to grow through attracting students who then stay and become young professionals rather than through reaching those from the city or town around them.  These students would largely have gone to church anyway so all we have done is recycle the flock.  I think there is also another side effect of this which is that those students stay at those churches as young professionals which means as a church in the UK we are becoming a church which is large and growing in those university towns and cities whilst the churches in the hinterlands are by and large ageing and weak with few young couples or people to serve in them.

3. Lack of leaders
With church planting having been trendy many of the young ministers (myself included) have looked to plant.  Which means that there are fewer people looking to go into existing pastorates.  As most plants are done in university towns and cities this again further weakens the church in non-university towns and cities.  Leaving many churches as sheep without an under-shepherd.

We need to stand back and look at the national situation before our pursuit of planting leaves us with a church of haves and have nots with vast swathes of the country without a gospel witness.

Britain's Theological Obesity

Apparently I live in one of the most obese towns in Britain, something which across the country is beginning to put a growing strain on our health service because of the illnesses related to and which are a result of obesity.

But it isn't just physically that we are feeling the affects of obesity.  I wonder if parts of the church in Britain are suffering from Theological obesity - in other words we gorge ourselves on teaching, teaching teaching, making the most of every opportunity, from church, to home group, from MP3's to conferences - and I am not against making the most of teaching.  But actually Bible teaching is designed to lead to Bible living, and I wonder if what is happening with the availability of bible teaching is that we gorge on it but do not become active with it.  So we listen to the Bible and take in what it says, we can repeat the ideas to others but do not convert that message into changed loves, thoughts, actions and reactions.

What is the antidote - well just as the antidote to physical obesity is exercise so it is to spiritual obesity.  We need to hear the word of God and do something with it - discuss it, learn it, activate it, and engage in life as a result of it equipped to serve others - after all that is the purpose of Christ giving us apostles, evangelists,  pastors, and teachers, (Ephesians 4:11).

If  we find that we are not serving, we are not loving more, we are not bearing with, we are not reaching out to, we are not stirred in our hearts and souls to engage with one another in discipleship and with a lost world with sharing the gospel.  Maybe we need to stand on the spiritual weighing scales!

An appetite to hear and listen to God's word is a great thing, but God's word is designed to produce service as we model ourselves on the one who served us motivated by his sheer grace which saves us and reconciles us with God and others.