Community Infrastructure

I started out on time today, walking north on Military Trail with beautiful sunshine. I noticed the heavy power lines that follow this section of roadway, and then cross the road a little beyond Donaldson run. Overhead the trees compete with the powerlines. Looks like someone needs to referee this conflict! We need both the trees and the powerlines.
 It got me thinking about all the infrastructure that is needed to keep this neighborhood together--physical, spiritual, etc. Someone has to maintain all this. We're living organisms, embedded in other systems of living organisms, and there have to be things holding us all together.
I crossed the road at Donaldson Run and wandered into the trail that follows the stream, down the stairs leading to stepping stones over the water. It beckoned me over. Since I was well-shod I attempted it, and made it!
I wandered up the hill, into what later proved to be Potomac Overlook Park, another system of natural infrastructure, well-integrated into the homes that surround it. Someone is maintaining these trails, as the signs say.

Every three to five minutes a plane flies overhead. Landing patterns at Reagan National Airport use approach paths over the Potomac River--an example of the trasportation infrastructure that binds people together.
At sometime in the past, people gathered at the overlook to watch the river. It was said that people could see the 4th of July fireworks on the Mall from this spot on the river. Now trees block the view except in winter time.
I made my way back through the Potomac Overlook park after taking a detour to see as much of the river as I could.
How is a church related to the neighborhood infrastructure?  What part does it play in binding people together? And what happens if we stop maintaining it?