Article March 16, 1998 Issue

Q A

Q When did your Church start—and why?

A In 1879, four years after the first publication of Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy and some of her students voted to "organize a church designed to commemorate the word and works of our Master [Christ Jesus], which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing." The Church was reorganized in 1892, and the Church Manual was first issued in 1895 to provide a framework for church government and a blueprint for future development of its mission.

Q Why don't you have ministers?

A This is a lay church in which every member has equal standing with God. With the Bible and Science and Health as their pastor, Christian Scientists turn to prayer and these two books for instruction, counsel, and healing.

Mary Baker Eddy founded
the Church of Christ, Scientist,
"... to commemorate the word
and works of our Master,
which should reinstate
primitive Christianity
and its lost element of healing."

Manual of The Mother Church by Mary Baker Eddy

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