"WE ARE AN ACTIVE CHURCH IN A CHURCH-GOING COMMUNITY," says John Williams, a longtime member of First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Jerseyville, Illinois. Mr. Williams, who teaches political science at nearby Principia College, explains that people in Jerseyville tend to know others by the church they attend. "A typical question when you meet someone in town is, What's your church home?"
In other countries and cultures, such a question might seldom come up among friends, much less when meeting someone for the first time. But in the openly and seriously religious American Midwest, church affiliations are prominent threads in the fabric of community life.
Christian Scientists in Jerseyville are known as members of "the church that just moved to a new home in the former eye-care center ... you know, the one across from the middle school." Or, as "the church that has a Reading Room right across from the county courthouse." Or they're known individually for serving on community boards and in ministerialalliance-sponsored drives to support those needing food and emergency housing.
