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My friend says this has not been a radically transforming spiritual experience. For a few years, he carped about how the interchurch homeless ministry relegates evangelism to the periphery, how it has aggravated homelessness by treating the homeless as guests, and so on. But in the course of working breakfast, dinner, and midnight shifts, he's learned to let go of his preconceptions of "successful homeless ministry" and begin to simply learn to be with the homeless. His most rewarding moments come after breakfast is served and he stands with the smokers outdoors in the patio, talking with them, mostly just listening to their stories—often narcissistic and far-fetched tales of injustices visited upon them, but sometimes poignant narratives of lives gone terribly awry. "I'm still not very good at entering into their suffering," he says, "but my life is so sheltered with material blessings and psychologically healthy friends, it's better than nothing. At least once a month, I'm forced to think about those who genuinely suffer."

And as Scripture and church history teach, wherever there is suffering, there is God, and by not avoiding or ignoring it, we embrace it—and live life in full color.

Haddon Robinson, professor of preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, once said that change often comes about like this: pain + time + insight = change. Life practices like these, and others, may return to me, a middle-aged suburban male, the gift of God himself. Poking fun at Mayberry is a cliché, but it turns out that the trimmed and bucolic cul de sac is no better or worse a place to work out one's salvation with fear and trembling.

David Goetz is founder and president of cz Marketing, a marketing management firm. He has been an editor at Leadership, CT's sister publication for pastors.

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

A ready-to-download Bible Study on this article is available at ChristianBibleStudies.com. These unique Bible studies use articles from current issues of Christianity Today to prompt thought-provoking discussions in adult Sunday school classes or small groups.

Also appearing today on our site:

Religion in the 'Burbs | An interview with R. Stephen Warner, sociologist of religion at University of Illinois at Chicago.

Inside CT: Away from the Crowd | You learn a lot about someone through fly fishing.

Books referenced in the article include: Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States, The Four Loves, and Message in a Bottle.

Dave Goetz is a former editor of Christianity Today sister publication Leadership. In 1997 he wrote the CT cover story, "Why Pastor Steve Loves His Job."

Other articles examining suburban spirituality from Christianity Today and our sister publications include:

The Bobo Future | "Bourgeois bohemians" wield inordinate power over how we think about consumerism, morality—and faith itself (July 25, 2000)

You've Got Mail | A letter Jesus might write to the suburban church of North America (Eugene H. Peterson, Christianity Today, Oct. 25, 1999)

The Cost of Living in a Suburban Paradise (Deborah Windes, Books & Culture, Jan/Feb 1998)

When Your Neighborhood Changes You | How three Twin Cities churches have adjusted to reach their rapidly changing community (Leadership Journal, Spring 2003)

For more articles, see CT's Prayer and Spirituality archive.

In an article for The Weekly Standard, David Brooks examines Sprinkler City, the newest kind of suburb—and why not all suburbs are alike.

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July 2003, Vol. 47, No. 7