Suburbanite author offers plan for recovering neighborly lifestyle

First to come were the millions of families seeking affordable housing outside major cities. Next were the commercial enterprises for all of the new residents. Then came industry as jobs and companies were relocated closer to the people. All three waves of growth combined over the past 50 years to concentrate the greatest portion of the American populace in one area?suburbia.

More people now live in suburbs than inside the loop of central cities and small towns combined. No longer regarded as simply sub-urban?suburbs have become the residence of choice for most people with the youngest generation of adults mostly comprised of those with no experience in small-town America.

While suburbs were once seen as developments situated 20 miles from an urban center and 20 miles away from rural farmland, they are now growing together in some places.

In every metropolitan area of Texas, residents traveling beyond the major cities can go from one suburb to the next, crossing many cities in a row before finding any open spaces.

Such dramatic change to the Texas landscape affects how local churches define their territory for local ministry.

In his book “The Suburban Christian,” Albert Y. Hsu asks, “How might the Christian faith contextualize itself in such a way as to be compelling to suburbanites without getting sucked into the trappings and temptations of suburban living?” In the process, he provides practical suggestions that could transform these sprawling communities into the more friendly neighborhoods once associated with areas and smaller towns.

“Instead of a place of community, suburbia is often anonymous and isolated,” Hsu writes. “And yet those who moved to the suburbs use phrases like ‘a good place to raise kids’ or ‘where people settle down and start a family’ to describe their anticipation of a good life. In other words, suburbia is the context and the setting for the fulfillment of people’s hopes and dreams,” he concludes.

Despite such goals, certain characteristics of suburbia make that more difficult. Many of these residents commute a half hour or more a day to their jobs, often heading out at dawn to avoid the traffic and sometimes returning after the supper hour. That leaves little time for the family, civic or church activities, Hsu observes.

He cites one study that revealed each additional 10 minutes in daily commuting time cuts involvement in community affairs by 10 percent.

Changes in the design of housing, concern for safety, and even the advent of television and air conditioning moved much of the population indoors, reducing opportunities for interaction with neighbors. The tendency to move to a new house that matches escalating needs or desires, Hsu insists, works against growing roots that build relationships.

Even the decision of selecting a church can turn into a contest, scouting all the various options even if it requires another commute to satisfy particular preferences in size, style and purpose.

“We don’t work in our local community. We don’t make friends in our neighborhood. We commute elsewhere to shop, to study, to worship,” Hsu notes.

That doesn’t have to be the case, he argues, offering steps that can return suburban neighborhoods to a parish mindset.

“Think of what happens to us when we live, work and worship in different communities. If we live in suburb A but work half an hour away in suburb B and commute twenty minutes in the opposite direction to a church in suburb C, we find our sense of identity fragmented. We are dis-integrated, and our loyalties and connections are diffused into three different geographic areas,” he writes, describing the absence of overlap between disparate worlds.

By attempting to live, work and worship in the same community, a greater sense of investment and rootedness occurs, increasing the likelihood that neighbors, co-workers and fellow church members interact in more than one setting. He borrows an idea from another author who suggested scoping out a one-mile radius around the home, then seeking to do as much within this area as possible.

As a resident of suburban Chicago working at InterVarsity Press, Hsu accurately observes that a one-mile radius is smaller than many subdivisions in many metropolitan areas, but accepted the challenge by mapping an area of about five miles across that includes his workplace, the library, the post office, the gas station, the grocery store, a favorite used bookstore?all of it making up his “parish.”

By intentionally spending most of his time in that zone, Hsu finds himself connecting with people he sees on repeated visits to nearby stores and services. Making a conscious effort to walk when it is feasible yields other benefits.

“We need to remind ourselves that its okay that walking takes longer than driving. It takes me far longer to walk to the park with my son than to drive there and back, but along the way he notices things that we don’t see when we speed by at forty-five miles per hour,” he writes.

“It is much harder for potential good Samaritans to help people in need when zipping past them on the freeway than it is to stop by when you are on a neighborhood walk or jog.”

The need for non-threatening gathering spots outside of work and home led to development of the “third place” concept that made establishments like Starbucks so successful. Suburbanites seek to replace the routine interaction that once occurred in barbershops and beauty parlors, hardware stores and grocery marts.

Hsu believes those relationships can still occur when individuals alter their own traffic patterns, suppressing “our impulses to ignore those around us and instead try to live in awareness and attentiveness to those we encounter, whether at a park or playground or in a restaurant or grocery store.”

CHRISTIAN HOSPITALITY
Hsu adds that the chief antidote to suburban anonymity and isolationism may be the Christian practice of hospitality. Thirty years ago Americans had friends over to their homes 15 times a year while the average today is just once every month and a half.

Whether in hosting international students for a semester or setting a goal of having guests over at least once a month, Hsu offers a variety of ways to demonstrate the biblical call to “love your neighbor.”
Even returning to the simple habit of borrowing a cup of flour from a neighbor instead of making a mad dash to the grocery store can encourage those friendships.

“Ultimately, we must come to view our suburbs not merely as private dwelling places but as communities where we know and are known by networks of neighbors and friends,”

Hsu writes. “No one is an island; extroverts and introverts alike need community. Even in suburbia.”