The biggest divide in the Church isn’t gender or race. It’s class

Jesus is grieved by the vast wealth inequalities between our churches, says Suzy Stride

My mum is as working class as working class come.

Born in the East End in the 60s, her family stole blankets from a local factory as they had none. They often went without food and sat on milk crates for chairs. Mum was expelled from school and was part of a local gang. Her first interaction with the church happened when her gang tried to disrupt the church Christmas event, and my dad (the vicar’s son) and his brother had to drag them out.

A few years later, mum was smoking a fag in the school toilets and her mate told her about seances - something that scared my mum but opened her up to the thought that the spiritual might be real.