Church Dedications

SOUTH SHIELDS, DURHAM, ENGLAND (First Church)

Shields Gazette and Slapping Telegraph
March 23, 1968

Although services have been held regularly in First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Hepscott Terrace, South Shields, since 1953, the church has not yet been dedicated.

A rule of the Christian Scientists is that their churches must not be dedicated until they are free from debt. Now that members have finished paying for the building and grounds, the dedication service can go ahead on Sunday.

LOS ALTOS, CALIFORNIA (First Church)

Los Alios News
June 5, 1968

Dedication services for First Church of Christ, Scientist. Los Altos, will be held Sunday at 9:30 and 11 a.m. and at 3 p.m. . . .

The present handsome contemporary structure which blends into its natural setting of oak and redwood trees at 401 University Ave. began modestly in 1915 when a few individuals who had been healed in Christian Science began holding services in a private home.

A building fund opened at this period and had increased sufficiently in 10 years to build the Sunday School and Reading Room units of a church, on property obtained by trading a lot donated by a member. By now a recognized branch of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, and with its building fully paid for, the Los Altos church held its first dedication services in May, 1926.

The Reading Room was moved to a downtown location in 1940 to provide more Sunday School space, but the Sunday School soon had to be accommodated in temporary rented quarters, so plans were made for a larger building.

This edifice of Santa Cruz stone and redwood . . . was incorporated with the original building in 1952. An additional wing was added in 1958, and the Sunday School enlarged and modernized.

When the need for a new downtown Reading Room location arose, the members willingly indebted themselves for the purchase of a city lot and a suitable building. . . .

Amortization of the debt incurred for the church building and Reading Room construction was completed by April 30, and First Church of Christ, Scientist, Los Altos, is now fully qualified to hold its dedicatory services.

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January 25, 1969

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