Facing up to the class divide with Paul Brown and Natalie Williams

Facing up to the class divide with Paul Brown and Natalie Williams

A plasterer from London contacted us when we were in the process of writing Invisible Divides. He confessed that most of the time, he felt, ‘so out of place’ in the church because of his background. He went on to describe how people would either laugh or simply ignore him if he raised the subject of class in his church. He concluded graciously saying, ‘It’s not their fault, they just don’t know.’

Those middle-class church members probably didn’t see the huge cultural division of class. That plasterer’s experience is just one of many reasons we need to be talking about issues of class in the church.

Class concerns rarely seem to be on the radar of the middle-class majority in our churches. Yet, like our plasterer friend, those concerns are real and raw, and often painful for people from working-class backgrounds.

According to the British Social Attitudes Survey, 60 per cent of the population identify as working class. And a massive 82 per cent of those who identify as working class are more likely to think that there is ‘a wide divide between social classes.’ Coupled with research by the Evangelical Alliance, which found that 81 per cent of people in British evangelical churches have a university degree, compared to just 27 per cent of the population as a whole, we can see that the under-representation of the working class in our churches is a serious issue.

If we want to see the gospel impact all sections of society, we need to think seriously about the subject of class and the church. We need to review our attitudes, our structures and styles, our practice and purpose, to ensure we are effectively reaching and including people from working-class communities. We will need to be intentional; we will need to do things differently to better include the working classes into our church families.

The book, Invisible Divides, encourages us to understand there are fundamental class differences: attitudes to money, attitudes to authority; how we communicate; how we do hospitality and how we do church. It will challenge our unconscious prejudices towards others simply because of their accent, style of dress or academic achievement. We’ll then learn to appreciate the richness and diversity of life expressed by each class.

Let’s break down the barriers between ‘us’ and ‘them’; the powerful and the powerless. Let’s embrace and celebrate our differences and demonstrate genuine unity in our diversity. Maybe then, the plasterers won’t only feel welcome in churches, some will be leading them.

Paul Brown and Natalie Williams
Both Natalie and Paul are from working-class backgrounds and are now both involved in church leadership – Natalie is chief executive of Jubilee+ and Paul is a minister at City Hope Church in London. When they were new Christians, they felt completely out of place in the churches they joined. Their book, Invisible Divides, shines a light on subconscious assumptions, prejudices and blind spots which get in the way of making our churches into a community where all are truly welcome and where discipleship is two-way.

Invisible Divides: class, culture and barriers to belonging in the church by Natalie Williams and Paul Brown is published by SPCK (April 2022).

You can find the book here: Invisible Divides - Natalie Williams|Paul Brown - SPCK Publishing

You can follow the authors here:
Paul Brown Insta: @paulbrownbermondsey. Twitter: @bermondseypaul
Natalie Williams Insta: @natwillnatter Twitter: @natwillnatter