The sharing session at this house church conference is raging on and I don’t think i will get a chance to share this. But I feel God’s heart on it so in case I dont get to stand up and say it to the group, here it is.
God is doing a new thing in this country and those with blue collars will have special honor.
GOD LOVES BLUE COLLARS.
And I know He loves white collars also and has used white collars in church leadership for hundreds of years in this land.
But blue collars? Ahhhhhhhhh . . . thats something new.
So if you have a job where you spend the final ten minutes of your day washing gunk off your hands
or putting away the tools of the laborer,
or your watch says Casio and not some Swiss guys name,
or you live in a trailer,
and you couldn’t afford to go to Seminary,
and you can see the road through the floor of your car
. . . then
you have special honor and favor in this new thing God is doing.
And you wont have to switch from Dunkin’ Donuts to Starbucks
and you wont have to change your mullet to a side parting
and you wont have to swap your Eddie Bauer for a Georgio Armani.
God will use you to LEAD and this leadership will not have to sit at the feel of white collars to be appreciated.
Be free.
Be free to lead and serve.
God loves your blue collar.
Be grateful for the state in which God has called you and play it out where you are and how you are.
There is a reason for it.
Hey. Nice to be with you all. Lets hook up again.
Fantastic word, Amen!
Andrew,
A friend at PhoenixPreacher.com made me aware of your blog entry today.
I think you are spot on! It’s about reality, not that “white collar” isn’t reality, but “blue collar” is so often looked down upon here in “the states”. Indeed our little social experiment here started with ideals of equality but it took a civil war to free the slaves and now we’re welcoming a fresh underclass of undocumented folk who need the love and touch of the risen Jesus.
“Blue collar” now has many languages at it’s mother tongue, and many religious traditions are brought to our faces every day.
May God speak to each of our hearts to look beyond race, gender, class, culture and social standing to share His love with all people without restraint.
And may us blue collars never fail to love the white collars as well!
( | o )=====:::
Amazing how unnoticed the ‘blue color predicament is”. One of the main reasons we went the simple church way, was the observation that in NZ blue color Males were the most unreached people group in our country, and normal church seemed to have a complete blind spot about it. Thumbs up about what you said!
Fine, God loves blue collars. Does God also love non-intellectuals?
Seriously, this is pretty obvious. Those that are well off are fewer in number in the Word and in the church (the living organism church, not the building) than those that are well-to-do. Read James. It is the wealthy that oppress and love preeminence, love to be the focus. But the simpletons are as those simple little fisherman that shocked the leadership in Acts, in their God-given understanding of who Jesus is.
That’s really beautiful Andrew…and I’m not sure how you feel about such things but I believe it’s prophetic as well. Thank you for sharing.
So what do you think HE thinks about SCRUBS?
ps… phil and i will be in Austin next weekend.. for guess what…. ummmmmmm my 40th!!!
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh pray for me … i’m not doing well with that number…..
xo K8
I believe this is prophetic, as well. Thank you, Andrew.
Andrew,
Spot on.
I regularly follow your blog, and you’ve just written my all-time favorite post here 🙂
It is my observation that the working-class man and woman don’t really have a voice in evangelicalism or in the emerging movement. They might have more of a voice in the charismatic movement, but even there the idea of God wanting you to be rich and affluent is pushed so often.
Just because you don’t make much money or grew up in KidRockistan (sorry, Mark Driscoll), or work in a shop with Audioslave or Led Zeppelin blasting in the background doesn’t mean that you’re less qualified to do mighty things for God than the guy who listens to John Mayer on his iPod while doing office work on his Macbook at Starbucks 🙂
Andrew, I hope and pray that everyone who looks to you as an authority and respects your viewpoints takes the time to consider this post, how it reflects the spirit of Jesus and how they can reach out and include regular working-class folks who may have incredible gifts to share with the church that are being wasted because of geographical, class and/or financial prejudice.
DOOD, Might I say, WOOOOOOT!!!! TY for saying it, I work 40-60 hours a week as an electrician and we are starting a new work here in town. Converting the Garage and getting some used pews from a church that is going to arena seating. Finally I can breathe, and realise Gods call is sooooooo Far and above the piece of paper on my wall. We run an ad in the local paper and the Churches here in town are trying to get it removed because I don’t fit their . ( | o )=====:::, DOO, you rock btw!
fabulos! and so what if I can’t spell!
Tallskinnykiwi says; “….then you have special honor and favor in this new thing God is doing.”
Wow, I always thought that God showed no special respect for any type of person. But that he loved everyone and gave opportunity equally. It gives me great encouragement and hope that the only criteria God uses for blessing people is that they avail themselves to Him. Anyone can do that regardless their economic standing.
Fleshdead
Amen!
The next great move of God is going to be in the marketplace!
We’ll see blue collar saints, prophets and evangelists proclaiming His kingdom come to their co-workers and customers.
We’ll grease stains from the laying on of hands, and the tears of redemption flowing down dirty and grizzled faces.
I’m so excited to see how God is going to turn the church upside down and show us that the last will be first, and that he uses the foolish to confound the wise as he unveils a hidden army of blue-collar Christians.
They won’t be pretty or wealthy, but they’ll be Godly, and that’s all that counts in eternity.
This is a “Top posts 2007” nominee for obvious reasons. Along with the Local Church and Local Food, where the chronological analogy is funnily informative. Happy you are busily using the new Mac-baby.
Jon, your theology sounds water-tight on paper . . . . but how do you explain recent moves of God among specific people groups like the Iranians?
I was actually semi-quoting Billy Graham there, but ended up misquoting him.
I should have said:
One of the next great moves of God will be in the marketplace!
The correct Billy Graham quote is:
“…one of the next great moves of God is going to be through believers in the workplace…”
My bad.