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Black people are the most evangelical people in the world, as a category. Yet, white and black evangelicals are "divided by faith," as Michael Emerson and Christian Smith wrote in the book by the same title. We have the same faith and yet we don't share each other's lives.

And the suburbs seem to bring out this division?

It's a little easier to separate yourself, whether you intend to or not. Another suburban phenomenon is a greater tendency to segregate by age. Take Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago's suburbia. Their religiosity doesn't move me, but I have a tremendous respect for what they do. They're very dedicated. Willow has its main, baby boomerish, seeker services. It also has parallel activities that meet the needs of young people. So there's this idea that religious experience is something that ought to be generation-specific. I really don't like it. I like the fact that in my church we've got 80-year-old people and little kids sitting right next to each other.

Among Warner's publications is Gatherings in Diaspora: Religious Communities and the New Immigration (Temple University Press, 1998). He's cofounder of the Chicago- area Group for the Study of Religious Communities.

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also appearing today on our site:

Suburban Spirituality | The land of SUVs and soccer leagues tends to weather the soul in peculiar ways, but it doesn't have to.

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

Warner's Gatherings in Diaspora: Religious Communities and the New Immigration is available at Amazon.com.

For more articles, see CT's Prayer and Spirituality and Church Life archives.

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)

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