Washington ? When Linda Brown needs to get her car fixed, she takes it to an auto repair shop that she found in the Shepherd’s Guide, a directory of local businesses owned by self-professed Christians.

She turned to the guide when her mother died and she needed a lawyer to handle the estate.

For Brown, 47, who worships at Victory Gospel Church in Manassas, Va., using the Christian equivalent of the Yellow Pages is an expression of her faith and a smart way to shop.

“That’s where I go first for anything, really,” said Brown, who lives in Manassas and has been using the guide for about eight years. “Usually, with Christians, they are honest people and they put God first, not money.”

With other Christian consumers adopting Brown’s approach, the popularity of Christian listings has surged. The Shepherd’s Guide, which started in 1980 with 150 advertisers, now has 20,000 advertisers and publishes 4 million books in more than 100 markets.

Their growth reflects a steady increase in the number of Christian evangelicals, but it also can be seen as part of a broader trend in which people are striving to integrate their moral and political values into all aspects of life, some scholars said.

To advertise as a Christian business in the Baltimore-based Shepherd’s Guide, business owners must sign a statement saying they have received Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and will follow “the highest Biblical code of ethics in my transactions.” For Keener Communications, which publishes the San Diego-based Christian Examiner’s Yellow Pages, a spoken statement of faith is enough.