Welcoming the Lower Class to The Middle Class Church

I have a confession to make. I get angry, almost irrational, at times. And this is one of my most common triggers: As a pastor to the homeless and the mentally ill, I find myself working with many different Christian agencies that assist the homeless. What I am constantly met with—by both volunteers and regular staff— is the assumption that if we are working with the homeless, then they need to be "saved." That the homeless need evangelistic messages and altar calls. Of course, the assumption that is made, but not spoken, is that the homeless need it more than the middle class. The middle class is fine with Chuck Swindoll, but the homeless need hard-core salvation messages.
That really ticks me off. In my experience about 30% of the homeless are strong Christians—meaning that they speak about God and Jesus openly and are making serious attempts to change their lives in accordance with what they understand to be the Christian faith. This is a higher percentage than middle class Americans. Yet the stereotype of homeless-as-heathen persists.
Do these Christians who speak this false opinion not know homeless folk? Actually, many of those who see the homeless as spiritually inferior have spoken to many homeless and know how many of them are working on their relationship with God through Jesus. And so why does this opinion persist? I think for two reasons, primarily.
First of all, most middle class Christians believe that if the homeless were truly committed to the faith of Jesus that they would "get better", by which they mean they would stop being homeless and become middle class. Thus, if the homeless are still homeless, then they are not truly following the "faith of Jesus". This is not the gospel of Jesus, but the pervasive attitudes of AmericanDreamism. The idea behind this is that the morally and spiritually superior will obtain the material peace of this world. If this assumption is opened to public scrutiny, however, the illogic of it is obvious. Jesus himself was not middle-class American and the lifestyle he exemplified was a life of poverty and homelessness. This does not mean that the reverse is true—that a middle class person must become homeless to follow Jesus—however, I think that Jesus’ warnings communicate that the middle class must make more changes than the poor (for example, Luke 6:20-26).
The second reason for this Christian judgment of the homeless is because they do not see the homeless in their churches. And if one interviews the majority of homeless Christians, it is true that it would be found that most of them do not have a congregation that they would call "my church". Typical evangelicals do not see the homeless sitting in their pews, singing their hymns or choruses or participating in their Sunday schools. This is a mystery to them. If the homeless were truly Christian, wouldn’t they be attending a church—if not theirs, then another?
This fact seems inarguable. Scripture does speak about "not neglecting to gather together", and church-going seems so significant. And it is significant to the homeless as well. And almost every homeless person serious about following Jesus has attempted to attend church. Yet for most of them, once they attend, they never return to a church again.

Necessary Cultural Baggage
Most of us, when we think about church, we think of it as a non-cultural phenomenon, as if it is completely ethereal, without influence from the world. Of course, this is completely untrue. It is as if every church were a frozen banana of core doctrine, dipped in a cultural vat and then rolled in distinctives and specific practices unique to that church, until the core could no longer be seen. Those who are offered this frozen banana as a whole are told about the significance of the core—"it’s sweet and it has a lot of potassium" and they don’t understand that when the person rejects it, it isn’t the core that they are rejecting, but possibly the coconut one sprinkled on the outside, or—God forbid—they don’t care for chocolate.
The homeless almost unanimously rejects the church, not the core that the church represents, but the cultural stylings and trappings that become attached to it. And although probably not a one of them would express it in this way, what they really cannot handle is the middle class culture that almost all American churches are infused with. The way the homeless people express it is: "I just didn’t feel comfortable there." "I wasn’t wearing the right clothes." "People avoided me." "The music was weird." "I just couldn’t sit there any longer." "I was asked to leave." These statements are not communicating a rejection of Jesus or the core of what a church stands for. This is the language of cross-cultural breakdown.
Every culture has its own mores and rules by which they judge those within its own culture. They are the standards of "normalcy" by which the standard-bearers of the culture determine what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. In India, it is normal and acceptable to eat with one’s hands even what would be called a "sticky mess" in our culture. While at an American table the standard-bearer would slap a child’s hand for eating curry and rice with his hands, at the Indian table next door the standard-bearer would slap their child’s hand for eating with their left hand. Different standards, but the common practice is that the one who breaks the more is judged and punished.
In our American multi-culture, adults do not usually punish other adults so directly. Of course, the serious cultural standards are enforced by law and infractions are judged by the courts and punished by fines, imprisonment or some form of accountability. But most of the time, social infractions are punished by some form of social estrangement—being ignored, dirty looks, possibly a verbal rebuke.

Who Makes The Laws?
And who determines these standards, who are the standard-bearers? They are the leaders of the middle-class. Not the president, senators, judges, policemen, mayors and pastors of our society—they are but the cheerleaders, who follow what they are given by the dictates of polls, laws and current moral positioning. The heart of our moral society are the leaders of each family unit—the parents, grandparents and economically independent singles. To be significant, to dictate the conscience of the society, one must be economically independent and able to communicate the middle class culture.
This does not mean that there are not other cultures in the U.S. There are sub-cultures that are usually described by their differences from the middle class culture. This includes various kinds of youth culture, ethnic cultures (meaning non-Anglo cultures, which is itself an ethnic culture), and lower-class cultures, of which the homeless are one part.
The middle class culture and the lower class cultures are not at war. Both parties know who is in charge, who has the economic, political and social power in this society. For the most part, most people, even among the lower class, are content with the power structure as it stands, mostly because of the façade that "everyman"—no matter who they are or what kind of dissenting voice they have—actually has a share in the power of the whole. But the lower class accepts that middle class mores rule our society. Middle class mores, as a whole, are what is considered "normal" and every stray from those mores are prodigals. Both the middle and lower classes accept this fact. It is just that many of the lower classes feel no need to become unprodigalized.
So what is the problem? The middle-class standard-bearers determine the mores of society, both the lower and middle classes accept this fact, so why talk about it? To have one segment, one class of society determine the mores of the whole creates cracks in society that are problematic. It encourages stereotypes that create false judgments—"All homeless are lazy and need jobs." "The elderly need nursing care that the family can’t provide." "Multiple offenders can’t be reformed." "The mentally ill are dangerous." "Drug use indicates participation in more violent crimes." These stereotypes encourage separation, which is, in itself, the ultimate judgment. To judge as unfit for society is to displace from society, to find no way back in. To be judged by a stereotype or to be perpetually ignored because of a standard one cannot live up to is to place an unspoken wall of separation that the more-breaker cannot ever scale. Even if one wished to shed the scales of the lower class and become a full-fledged member of the middle class, the way is barred, because the judgment has already been made.
Not only does the "middle-class normalcy" create an American caste system, but it also invades the minds and emotional health of the lower class. Remember, the lower class, to a degree, accepts the mores of the middle class as "normal" and each individual within the lower class holds themselves up against that standard. Some of the lower class revel in their differences, glorying in their abnormality, laughing at the standard-bearers discomfort. Others of the lower-class, however, see themselves as perpetually inadequate, and for them the consequence is self-loathing. They hate who they are and their lives because they somehow, for some reason have missed the mark of "normal" in the society they see themselves a part of. Yes, they are Americans, but they will never be married, never be accomplished, never attain the white-picket-fence American Dream. Because for all of the proclamation of "diversity" (which has as much effect in the real world as the sound of one hand clapping), only certain kinds of diversity are really accepted. The rest are displaced, dishonored, unaccepted. The eternal outsiders. They are the cast-aways of "normal" society, receiving only the dregs of the prosperity the middle class takes for granted, yet the attitude of much of the middle class is, "they should be glad to receive that much."

Practicing What Was Preached
The worst difficulty is how this standard effects the Christian church. The Christian church is supposed to hold to the standard of Jesus, establishing the ethic of God above the mores of the world. But if there is an almost universally accepted (in our corner of the world) standard of "normalcy", then how can the church separate itself from the norm? There is no other standard to compare it to. But more importantly than that, how can the church be open to the sub-cultures that define themselves as being apart from the norm? How can the church be open to the lower class sub-cultures, when she is the embodiment of the standard culture? Perhaps the more open-minded churches wouldn’t openly rebuke a man with an unkempt beard, wearing filthy, wrinkled clothes and with a smell that could kill a canary at twenty paces. But these churches also wouldn’t be the place where he would feel comfortable and at home with their business suits, perfume and monologues. He wouldn’t be experiencing God. He would be choking on the middle class standards stuffed down his throat from the time he walked in the door. Perhaps he could endure the patronizing tones and misplaced sympathies. However, the sidelong glances and avoidance by others simply places the final brick in the wall of separation.
The church is to be a place where anyone of the family of God in Jesus should be a part of the family. The church should be the back door welcoming those who have been rejected by society as a whole. The church should have a single standard—the yoke of Jesus Christ—and let all else pass aside. But this isn’t the reality. Churches are primarily middle-class and uphold middle-class values. There is nothing wrong with that in itself. But these middle-class values are unintentionally blocking out the very ones that the Spirit of Jesus commanded us to accept.
Jesus—"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven…. But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort."
"For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea."
Paul—"Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly."
"On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect"
James—"The brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position."
"Did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man."
Writer of Hebrews—"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body."
It is so easy to be disgusted by the different, the abnormal. And when we have people before us displaying actions or attitudes that our parents punished us for, it is easy to disregard them or consider them below par. Yet it is exactly this voice in our heads we need to smother. When we are looking for God’s people, we need to look for the poor in spirit, the mourning, those thirsting for justice, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and the persecuted for Jesus’ sake. But if all we see before us is a Smoker, and this one aspect of their behavior disgusts us, we cannot see the virtues Jesus said we should be looking for. No where does Jesus say, "Woe to the sex offender, for they shall be excluded from God’s people," yet this is the Scripture we seem to be paying attention to rather than "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

What Must We Do To Be Saved?
Brothers and sisters, how far we have strayed! Yet the circumstances seem so difficult to overcome. What are we to do? How can a middle class church truly be welcoming to those of the lower class?
In determining a solution, I want to first of all dissent from my brothers and sisters who have been approaching the Middle Class Anglo Male monolith from a racial or feminist angle with hammers and chisels. While I agree that the whole structure of society has been, until very recently (and in many cases still is), bent toward the white-anglo-middle-class-male, I believe that it is a wrong approach for Christians to break open the power structure in order to obtain some of the power themselves. Power is in the hands of God, and He, in His own time, will raise up the humble and grant them great power, while the high and lofty—those who obtain power by their own will and determination— will come crashing down. From a Christian perspective, power is denied the revolutionarily resistant, but granted to the humble cross-bearing.
With this, I would plead to the middle class Christians to be more humble and more cross-bearing toward the lower class, as well as to others who have been socially weakened by the structure and mores of "normal" society. To be humble to the lower class is not just a matter of good form, but an essential of salvation. Jesus said that to be "raised" one must first be "humbled." Part of this humility is taking the lower place and allowing others lower than you to be socially honored above you. In other words, we need to honor those dishonored by the social mores we live in, when it dissents from God’s.
Below are a handful of ideas, any of which might make one’s church more open to the lower class, and so obtain the salvation of the middle class who rule the church.

Be aware of cultural standards which are not God’s standards
We desperately need to separate our culture from our spiritual life. This does not mean that our spirituality should not have cultural expression—it would be impossible and undesirable to separate that! But we need to look at what we consider to be the mores and standards that God desires for us and determine what really comes from God and what is our cultural context. For instance, it is a given that if a Christian adult does not have a "full-time" job, then they are in sin, for it says in Scripture, "If you do not work, you do not eat." But it is our cultural standard that equates "job"—meaning work under an employer—with "work." Scripture does not qualify the work with our modern concepts. Thus, if a person is dumpster diving three to four hours a day, who are we to say that they are not "working"? Even so, Scripture does not speak about smoking, card playing and the statements concerning dancing and drinking are unlike the modern middle class mores. So let’s not make determinations of someone’s spiritual and moral status until we have investigated to see what God has really said.

Ask questions of those who are different from you
The workers of the Missionaries of Charity in San Diego among the homeless and the poor have made the observation that the poor of the United States are not as physically needy as those in the third world, but they are socially destitute. The reason this whole impasse between the middle-class church and the lower class exists is because the two classes do not actually communicate. If the church wishes to welcome the lower class, they must understand the lower class and to understand, there must be communication. Not the communication of preaching—of telling others what they "need" to hear—but of listening. When my wife and I first began our ministry to the homeless, we spent two years welcoming the homeless into our apartment for dinner as guests, listening to their stories, trying to understand their life. This did not lead to the numbers our evangelical friends so desperately wanted to hear ("How many people got saved in your ministry?" "How many people did you help to get off of the street?"), but it did mean that our ministry would be directed to the real needs of our homeless friends, instead of our imagined ideas of their needs. Ministry begins with understanding, not assumptions.

Meet the needs of the lowly with love
Once we know what the needs of the lowly are, we will be ready to make an attempt to meet these needs. We have done this by offering free meals, providing showers, giving away new pairs of socks, a clothes exchange—"Clean clothes for dirty"—and more. Creatively approach the needs that you understand the people that you know have. So often, though, a "ministry to the needy" is nothing more than a social service. Helping meet physical needs is wonderful and often sacrificial, but giving to the poor, in and of itself, is not being Jesus to them. Paul said, "If I sell everything I have and give to the poor but I do not have love, then I have gained nothing from God." So often benevolent ministries fizzle out in churches because there isn’t a "spiritual" element that they can see. The glue that holds the spiritual ministry and the benevolent ministry is the social. No one can feel love unless there is relationship. Thus, to meet the needs of the lowly—to have any ministry at all—one must relate and love those whom we minister to.

Take opportunity to honor the socially lowly
In a society that offers honor with great reluctance, we are honor-starved. Respect is a basic need we all have, and the poor throughout the world are less impoverished in food as they are in honor. The lower class is even more desperate for honor, for they have done little that our society sees as honorable. Doing your job for a paycheck isn’t considered honorable, unless there is exceptional work, or they pursue a profession filled with honor—such as doctor or pastor. But the janitor of the church, the guy who mows the lawn, the single gal who cleans the bathrooms are ignored and so dishonored. We should look for ways to give extra respect to those who are lowly. Make much of them in a service. Give out certificates. Offer sincere gratitude. Go out of your way to make their work easier. Find a way, create a way to honor the lowly.

Give the lowly their own space to be culturally unique
Again, the lower class often just doesn’t feel comfortable in middle-class churches. And much of that discomfort isn’t the fault of the middle class. After all, if the middle class wants to wear suits and nice dresses to church, what is wrong with that? If they greet people with a loud, "Hello! How are you!" and a hug, there is nothing to blame there. But it does create discomfort for many. So perhaps the sub-culture of lower class your church is working with should have their own space to be their own culture. This is actually what the church has already done for the youth over the last century. Beginning with the Sunday school movement, the churches have realized that different sub-groups of their church has different needs. And so there are places for each age group, each ethnic group as well as other groups. But the lower class has been left out. Each splinter is just a sub-group of the middle class. Go ahead, be bold—have a "homeless" Sunday school, meeting where they want to meet. What about a single mothers small group? A "fast food employee" Bible study? Don’t laugh—the title may be funny, but everyone needs a space to be who they are, and to talk about their needs and what God has done to meet those needs.

Provide the opportunity to offer input to the power structure
Why is the church middle class? The main reason is because all of the leadership is middle class. It is the leadership in our churches that create the structure, the atmosphere and determine the cultural standards by which the church functions. It is good to have the middle class in leadership, because there is much that our society requires of legal organizations that the lower class might have difficulty providing—balanced account sheets, for one. However, there is a hole in the ministry to our society when the lower class is left out of leadership. Any church, conference, or denomination is only ministry to a portion of their community when the perspective of the lower class is left out. And to obtain the input of the lower class requires extra effort. Perhaps the church needs to pay for some of the lower class to attend regional or national conferences. Perhaps our churches need to look at people we otherwise would deem to be inadequate for leadership. But we must not lose out on the blessing that the lower class can give to our leadership.

Work to encourage the workers of the lowly
There is a huge opportunity to minister to the lowly. Ministers to the mentally ill are burning out. Ministers to the homeless move on to more "successful" ministries. Most trained seminary graduates have never even thought about giving themselves to low-paying, low-prestige position of minister to the lowly. Yet Jesus tells us to "Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into the harvest." There is a harvest here, among the lower class. An unbelievably huge harvest in desperate need of culturally-relevant discipleship and service. Let us do all we can to send the ministers where they are needed most. Let Bible schools and seminaries have seminars and classes for ministering to the lowly. Let denominations offer scholarships for youth who will work among the lowly for at least two years. Get the ministers to the lowly out to speak to Christian schools of all kinds. And let us pray. Pray for the lowly, the special needs that they have and for workers to be sent among them. And if God decides to answer our prayer by sending us, then so be it.