Sentence:  The inner life of congregations will prosper so long as like-minded people of similar social and economic level can fraternize together ; the outer life of congregations - the suitability of the environment to their survival - will be propitious so long as the people in the <WSD>area</WSD> are of the same social and economic level as the membership . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography)