Article March 30, 1946 Issue

Improving Our Wednesday Evening Meetings

DELBERT D. GILLETTE

In considering ways to improve Christian Science Wednesday evening meetings, we should first recognize the primary purpose of these meetings. Their obvious objective is so to spread the gospel of Christian Science through oral evidence that it gets results. The stranger, drawn to the church perhaps by curiosity, is given a convincing argument for the efficacy of Christian Science in the spontaneous expressions of gratitude in the testimonies. There is, however, another purpose of the testimony meetings that is less frequently recognized.

The latter half of a Wednesday evening meeting provides the opportunity for Christian Scientists and others to acknowledge in their testimonies that they have been healed. The public acknowledgment of benefits received does something for the one giving the testimony. It crystallizes his feeling of gratitude; it lifts and strengthens his resolve to go forward rejoicing. An editorial in the Christian Science Sentinel of November 18, 1944, referring to the giving of testimonies at Wednesday evening meetings, asks this question: "Is it too much to say that one may measure his footsteps to the Christ-ideal by this infallible, necessary yardstick of gratitude—of unequivocal acknowledgment of and reliance upon that Mind which is infinite good and boundless Love?"

Since the primary function of the midweek meeting concerns the giving of testimonies, it is evident that the main responsibility for its success rests with the congregation. The Reader who conducts the meeting is doing his part to the best of his ability. But is that always true of the congregation? A writer in one of our periodicals has truly said of these meetings, that "no provision has been made for long and complacent silences." What causes these silences? Is it not apathy or mesmeric suggestion? In Section 24 of Article VIII of the Manual of The Mother Church, Mary Baker Eddy writes: "Testimony in regard to the healing of the sick is highly important. More than a mere rehearsal of blessings, it scales the pinnacle of praise and illustrates the demonstration of Christ, 'who healeth all thy diseases' (Psalm 103:3)."

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