Such examples, however inspiring, tempt us to view black churches as traditional parishes where congregants come from the neighborhood and religious community is the same as geographic community. Recall, however, that black religious notions of community and development have never been so static or narrow. Churches are not necessarily neighborhood institutions. Churches often pull people together around common ethnicity, regional or national origin, class background, political orientation, life stage, or lifestyle. Less often do congregations form around shared neighborhood identity.
Many churches draw membership from a geographic area much wider than the immediate neighborhood.
People pick churches according to social identity more than spatial proximity. One church may attract southern migrants, while another appeals mainly to native northerners. Another church might serve Haitians or West Indians rather than blacks born in the United States. This is why we sometimes see solid middle-class black churches located in poor black neighborhoods. Churches can locate quite near each other, all taking advantage of cheap rents in otherwise vacant commercial spaces, because they are not competing for neighborhood residents per se.