The church that children built

By Camille Richardson

Do you know the Bible verse that says, "And a little child shall lead them" (Isa. 11:6)? Over 100 years ago some children in Schofield, Wisconsin, demonstrated this perfectly. In the 1890s Schofield was a logging town made up of sawmills of the Brooks and Ross Lumber Company, the homes of the employees, and a post office. In this town 18 children, from 8 to 16 years old, did something amazing: They held their own Christian Science church services and built their own church.

The First Reader of this church was Mary Graves, a student of Mary Baker Eddy's and the only adult. The Second Reader was Florence Harney, a 14-year-old. The clerk was 16-year-old Edith Harney, and the treasurer was Alfred Glarson, also 14. Alfred recorded each and every collection.

In October 1898, they discovered that the church had an extra nine dollars. The children held a meeting and decided to appoint a building committee and build a new church. (A building committee plans for everything that's needed for a building.) Today, we probably wouldn't decide to build a church if we had only nine dollars. But in the 1890s nine dollars was worth a lot more, so you could buy more with it.