In Prosperity Gospel #1 I explored how churches adopt the practices and attitudes around social class. Social class is a phenomena that observes human behavior when people are subjected to 'resource' issues. Wherever we find ourselves, in Poverty, Middle Class or Wealth, we adopt the practices, customs and traditions of that category. I have generalized the class system to three main categories as it is quite complex and changes even among Western countries. I observed that the lines are blurred when it comes to amount of resource but there are firm boundaries in practice according to what social class you belong to. Church leaders mix the spiritual with the worldly classes which results in believers hankering after worldly resource because it is equated with 'God's favor.' The consequence of this is believers pay lip service to their spiritual 'family' as the means of ratification, verification and authentication lies in Achievement and Connections, not 'Relationship.'
It is no secret that I am considered outspoken because I think church was never supposed to change from what the Apostles did having been told to '"Do This..." by Jesus. Because this position has landed me on the outside of the mainstream Christian community I have pursued the Lord as to why exactly does the church HAVE TO be small groups in homes around a meal. The leadership has to be biblical and those doing this have to be calibrated towards 'death to self.' Over time I've been able to explore the complexities of human behavior, social construction and how the Enemy has been able to divert believers from their source. Satan knows that if you get this sorted and return to practicing church as Jesus told us and the Apostles practiced, God has something to work with.
Ever been impressed with those Mega-Churches? No-one knows, including me, what is going on in the heart of the attendees. What we can say is that if a person puts their hand up in a meeting and says a prayer, they may or may not have actually transacted their salvation. "But Romans 10:9 says...." A typical Westerner reading this will extract the verse and make salvation a formula. What is overlooked is what Paul has said in the Previous 10 Chapters of Romans. 'Believing in your heart God raised Jesus from the dead' is assuming you have fully acknowledged the reason why he died and that we are culpable for sin. It is not just acknowledging data - 'That Jesus was raised from the dead.' It is being implicated in the necessity for God to have poured his wrath out on him in the first place. This leads to wanting above all things to re-calibrate our lives towards God by following Jesus. Then Jesus shows us what the Christ- life is about... being separated from this world... death to self!
Prosperity preachers cannot fully offer the cross because, by definition, they aren't living by it. They have been pursuing 'Achievement' and 'Connections' to define their spirituality. 'Relationship' is just information... 'you are my brother or sister because you too are in the family of God.' Relationship's functionality is superficial as everyone is somewhere on the 'becoming' scale. The cross-life is the only means by which Jesus can show us how attached to this murky world we are. In response to his illumination of our chains, we go to him for freedom. In this we are transformed. The idea was small groups who are all on the same page, resonating with the desire to be not of this world, meet around food and imbibe that culture. People beyond class systems and categories go out and are 'not of this world.' This leads people to ask questions and we become his witnesses.
Poverty, Middle Class and Wealth are all invited to this organic gathering called 'ekklesia.' They are all invited to leave their class and category behind (if they don't they won't stay long). All rally around having already connected to Christ and each other. This is not a new language for those from Poverty. They have already understood that when things go wrong it is relationships that help. Middle Class would struggle because they would be looking towards achievement, to be able to work their way out of issues. 'Wealth' is in dire straights! They are Connections based, looking for those like them to form an exclusive club. Jesus did say how hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom!
An example of how the class system hindered Mission was with my observations around the Eden Project in the UK. In the late 90's we felt led to live in officially the worst house on Manor, a Sheffield housing estate. We interacted with the community and people got saved etc. A similar project came out from the Message Trust to plant families, long term in deprived communities. Now the theory was that Christians will become part of the community and 'salt and light' would do it's work. Lots of good was done but I observed from a distance a social phenomena. Churches churn out mainly 'Middle Class.' So those up for the challenge of Eden were Middle Class, with some exceptions. So those immersed in Middle Class thinking and savvy with the unseen 'rules' of their economic class, moved in with 'Poverty.' One of two things happened:
Either the 'Middle Class' became imbibed with 'Poverty' or 'Middle Class' was unable to penetrate 'Poverty.' Because those on the teams were unable to bring the 'other than' it had less spiritual impact than hoped for. It won many awards for social entrepreneurship and probably still does. However, knowing the now CEO, he would prioritize a Revival-type scenario over seeing social parameters change in a breath. The truth behind Eden and such mission movements is hard to hear and offensive:
Your churches do not deliver you into being 'not-of-this-world.' Your message is excellent and maybe you're good at showing the 'together' side of yourself. But no matter how polished, purposed, passionate... if you are dressed in this world you will not make a significance difference in it. Only a reformation of the heart, then church practice, will start the process of overcoming the invisible societal and ecclesiastic church systems and structures we celebrate and often robustly defend. Then you won't even need projects because the coming and going of everyday life will bring opportunities as God has something to work with.
Gary Ward.
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