Allow me to paint in black and white for a brief moment; why are there so few Christians living in working class suburbs?
Perhaps there are and I because I'm new here I don't know them. Perhaps I should say, why are there so few Christians from my kind of church circles...
I'm not trying to incite guilt or have a big rant. I'm genuinely wondering. I was thinking just the other day how in practical terms living somewhere which is more affordable, family friendly etc would seem to be ideal for many christian families.
Leaving aside any issues of prejudice, I wonder if one aspect is that generally christians are encouraged to live near their church so they can be part of the local community. That's great... but it kinda perpetuates the status quo. So what do you reckon? Whether you live in Sydney, Hobart or wherever, how would you feel about moving to a working class suburb with a view to the future church that could be there?
6 comments:
My biggest hesitation: schools and the influences on my kids. Its just an unfair prejudice though...we're sending the kids to public schools because we want them to be able to interact with different people and worldviews and not be over-sheltered (esp in a ministry family).
But I suppose I'm still sheltering them in a bad way as I only want them to have to interact with middle-class worldviews and issues.
Keep calling me on it Bron!!
yeah, I know - I have the same fear. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do about it but I should pray about it (mental note!).
I guess with all of that I keep bringing myself back to the point that if I don't want something for my kids why am I happy for someone else's kids to have it?
But it is seriously a big fear for me, and I totally understand where you're coming from. Thanks for sharing.
Several people I've talked with (in Warrane) have told me they'd prefer to send their kids to public schools in lower socio-economic areas (like Warrane) cos they get better funding/resourcing and can therefore do a better job at educating. Schooling is then a positive rather than a negative!
The difference in attitudes/thinking is funny huh...?
Maybe it's because we are just coming to grips with the challenges of what my generation calls 'cross cultural mission'.
For my generation that usually meant another country, not another suburb.
To our shame.
Greg Bain
Good point, Bron. we work in Bat point and so we will live there...but really you're right.
Why do we end up in middle class suburbs?
to be honest, I wouldn't mind living somewhere like moonah or goodwood, after living in melbourne I realised that renting for location is expensive but not necessarily better or even safer...
For purely pragmatic reasons, there are big benefits to living in suburbs where the pop is mostly lower socio-economic... People are less pretencious, there are big discount stores and they can also be more multicultural. Not sure if this is true in tas yet ( the multicultural bit).
There can be risks such as domestic stuff happening ( I've seen it in glenorchy in the bus mall)but there are always safety risks in any suburb.
we get yobs hanging around near our house in kingston sometimes because of the old housing commission area. But then we get the most awesome, working class, down to earth people as neighbours that I am really glad to have there...
I know this post is old Bron, but I just had to comment. I wrote a really similar post on my old blog. We are in the process of moving from south-western Sydney to south-eastern Sydney.
I grew up in south-western Sydney and I am really sad about leaving! We are moving because my husband now works in south-eastern Sydney and all his family are over there.
I will really miss the multi-cultural aspect of the "working class" suburbs. My daughter goes to preschool with many children from South Asian, East Asian and Islander backgrounds. She also goes to preschool with children who have much less money than us (not that we have heaps or anything - my husband is a teacher and I was/ am a Speech Pathologist!). She has never known anything different and I love that!.
When I went to uni and Christian conventions etc I encountered so much surprise and even prejudice from other Christians about where I lived. Now some of our friends (from other areas of Sydney) have expressed relief that we are moving to a more "respectable" area. It makes me sad, and yet, we are sort of doing what everyone else is doing!
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