I’ve shared a few articles looking at the summer phenomena of St George’s flags appearing on lamposts and being painted on roundabouts and zebra crossings.
Recently I picked up on the link between flag protests and class perceptions. There is a tendency in some quarters to sneer at anything seen as associated with working class cultures and the sneering tends to be particularly derogatory towards educational achievement. There is seldom any reflection about why we have communities that either are or are perceived to be left behind when it comes to economic and social factors (including education).
At times there similarly seems to be little reflection on why some communities are left behind and ignored when it comes to Gospel witness. I don’t just mean that there is an absence of churches and evangelists in those areas, though there often is. I mean that too often, even when we have churches or some form of witness in an area, that our overall Evangelical culture, focus, resourcing and training doesn’t prioritise or engage the needs of such communities and people
Let me pick up on one example from the summer. We see lots of Christian festivals happening but who are they tailored to? A few years back, one of our then church leaders took a group from our church to camp at such an event. Whilst they enjoyed the worship and teaching but was clear that they were a minority. The other day, I saw a friend’s Facebook event about another large festival. They had enjoyed it but noted that stalls at the event were cashless and observed that this would exclude many less well off people. My observation was that these events are just not set up to attract or include people from poorer/working class/ ethnic minority backgrounds from the off
Fascinatingly, there once was a Christian holiday week that was set up to cater specifically for those from working class backgrounds. The Filey Crusade was a holiday week set up with tht help of Billy Butlin at one of his camps to provide a holiday and teaching especially in response to Billy Graham’s missions to England. In the mid 1980s it was decided that with all the other choices out there, Filey week was no longer needed. I’m not advocating for its return, or equivalent, just noting how something aimed at working classes was deemed no longer needed when the middle class has their choices available.
Incidentally, I wonder how many other things originally intended, if not for working class Christians, at least not for the elite have either disappeared as not needed or gradually become something different. Think about theological colleges aimed at those with less money and to not be academically focused that now cost a lot of money in fees and focus on academic rigour.
The dark side of the appearance of flags is that whilst in some cases, it seems to have been spontaneous, we are seeing evidence of organisation, control and even intimidation. People who would happily fly a flag from their window have been unnerved by the appearance overnight of flags on lamposts and the vandalism of roundabouts. If they challenge though they are dismissed as unpatriotic traitors and even threatened. Before we are quick to defend freedoms here, we need to learn history lessons. Consider how, in the name of freedom and patriotism, IRA and Loyalist thugs were allowed to intimidate and control communities in Northern Ireland for many years and still do in places.
This should remind us that when we desert or neglect people and places, it doesn’t take long for the vacuum to be filled. This is one reason why I think that churches should be committed to public evangelism both via door to door visiting and open air/ street Evangelism. If those things get a bad name today because they are the domain of cults and ranters, then we only have ourselves to blame.
On a more general level, if we, the church neglect while communities and classes of people and leave them behind, then we don’t just leave them with nothing. We leave them as prey to those with their own self serving and sinister political and religious agendas.
Faithroots 