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Of course people will instinctively object to this, but there is a problem with working-class people coming to Christ. In my experience, you need time to step back, breathe deeply, ponder and not rush to the next distraction. You need to invest for a future. You need to analyse and think. The treadmill of life and earning a living can be got off.
Maybe the above aren't middle-class values solely and maybe also the middle-class have their won reasons for rejecting Christ. Loss of respectability for one.

I think churches in mainland Britain have become a middle class thing, but religion is so pervasive in NI (and the middle class in NI is smaller than in Britain) that there are still a lot of working class churches. I've attended churches of both predominantly working class people AND of predominantly middle class people, and there are significant differences. Perhaps the most noteworthy thing is that the classes tend to stick together: in both cases I'd say there was better than 98 percent membership of the predominant 'class'.

All religions have strong class distinctions as part of their structure. There is the class of priests or clerics which may have its own internal heirarchy within it. If there is a parallel non clerical power structure it is a class which supports or allows the clerical power structure to exist. If they are not separate, the society is a theocracy. There is a military class with its own heirarchy which defends the religion. Then there are those whose degree of support for the religion usually in material terms places them in another heirarchy depending on how important that religion is to society. Then there are the grunts, the lower masses of followers who put their meager offerings in the collection plate periodically. And then there are the outsiders who do not belong to the religion. In some societies, this last group may be outlawed and the penalty may even be death.

Christianity in whatever form falls into these categories. It should be noted that the structure of Christian Western societies a thousand years ago or so in this regard bore a striking resemblance to the most extreme Islamic cultures today. You'd be hard pressed to tell much difference in the way religoin and society interacted between England and France of 1000 AD and the Taleban Afghanistan of 2000 AD.

I found this morning's discussion on Christianity and class quite fascinating and, I think, one of the more important issues the programme has recently addressed given that Christ came "to preach good tidings to the poor".

My own experience, coming from a quite unusual family background, would confirm JW's impression of class segregation though I would note that it is limited to urban areas of the province. I think there are other important distinctions to note - predominantly working class churches either have almost exclusively aged congregations or they do not belong to mainline denominations.

Both main-stream evangelical churches (C of I, Presbyterian, Methodist) and liberal Christians have completely failed to connect with young working class people. There is a whole generation of young protestants imbued all too often with a visceral sectarian hatred but no knowledge whatever of what either Protestantism or Christianity means.

Those young working class people who do attend church tend seldom, if ever, to have any exposure to real Christianity. The late Donald Soper, peace be upon him, once said that Belfast was a city of religious night-clubs - I am not sure that anything much has changed except that the venues have become multi or omniplex.

As someone who has moved in church circles for many years, I would say that class does indeed play quite a part, although probably unintentionally.

I thionk that churches are very much like schools. Their "classs" is really governed by the areas that they are situated in and the people who attend them. Obviosly a Brethren church on the University Road in Belfast is going be an awful lot more "snobby" than a Baptist one up the Shankhill.

The question "is Christianity class ridden?" seems to assume that "class" is a bad thing, without of course defining exactly what "class" is.
Perhaps a better question would be "do class perceptions hinder people from participating in churches?"
While Christ' teachings have a very strong bias to the poor he makes it very clear that heaven is NOT going to be an egalitarian society. ie with "many" -but not all- of the first on earth being last in heaven and vice versa.
If we are really talking about poverty here there is a wealth of teaching in proverbs and the NT about hard work, money, talents/giftings, frugality, saving, etc etc which would lift many people out of 'poverty' in the uk.
In reality the poorest of Britain's poor today would easily qualify as the rich people of the NT, in a global context.
PB
(ps I belong to a 'working class' church).

Presbyterianism of the PCI variety is middle class ridden to its very core from the office of Moderator down through the General Assembly right to the pew.

Presbyterian ministers are an example of this class distinction though there are a few exceptions very few to say the least.

For instance a Presbyterian church in the heart of a working class area suffering from social depravation has a minister housed in a typical middle class house in a middle class area which is detached from his parish living in isolation from the real problems and needs of his congregation, gone are the days when the minister walked the streets of his parish covering it with pray, how can a middle class minister preach to the needs of a suffering working class if he does not know them, he becomes a spectator from his lofty pulpit.

The governmental structure of the church has been erroneously turned into a middle class social club; most of the elders in a typical Presbyterian church in a working class area would parachute in from the protection of their middle class hide creeping up to the doors of those members that actually live in the parish to slip the church newsletter and FWO envelopes through the door unnoticed, sad to say but the Presbyterian hierarchy could learn a thing or two on how to cover their parishes from the Jehovah Witnesses and the Mormons..

The office of Clerk of session would normally be given to the most prominent middle class communicant member of any given congregation. I remember my father who happens to be a Presbyterian elder turning up to a BB enrolment service in another Presbyterian church (where I was called to the eldership which I declined) and at one minute to seven the Clerk of Session made his entrance into the church along with the minister and arrived to the place where my father was sitting and said to my father 鈥測ou鈥檙e sitting in my seat鈥�.

Where most of the working class would walk to church on Sunday, the middle class become posers driving to church showing of their shiny cars where they jockey for position to park their cars as close to the front door as possible, the middle class personified.

One has only to look through a typical church report to have their eyes opened, but sadly some churches where the middle classes felt embarrassed had the member鈥檚 names replaced with the FWO number so that the amount of money given each year could not be identified with any particular member.

Whereas the eldership in the Presbyterian Church would be occupied by the middle class the congregational committee would be served by the working class within the church.

If any Presbyterian minister or church member wants an example after Jesus Christ our Lord as a working class pastor, teacher, theologian and servant look no further than the founder of the Presbyterian Church John Calvin, read Williston Walker or Francois Wendel or Jean Cadier they might feel convicted and embarrassed at their insufficiency as a working class pastor.

William has the 大象传媒 anything in the pipeline for 2009 to commemorate John Calvin鈥檚 500th birthday.

You are quite correct on this one puritan. As a member of the Presbyterian church in Ireland who grew up in the Metodist church in Ireland my own observations are very similar. Some congregations are of course worse than others and elders can be appointed for various reasons, not just on class issues.

In the Methodist church that I belonged to class was never an issue. That could be because the denomination has it's roots in the working class of 18th century England.

I would also disagree with you on the FWO anonymity. Many Christians don't like others to know how much they have given, even if it's a lot of money (many adhere to the 10% rule). The reason why so many insist on annonymity with regard to FWOs is probably because of the widow's mite story in the bible.