Article August 23, 2010 Issue

No longer timid

BY DANIEL OKELLO

I MANAGE A BUSINESS SCHOOL in Suna-Migori, Kenya. When I began studying Christian Science about ten years ago, I was at first hesitant to associate my school with it, as my town and country are dominated by evangelical churches and I wasn't sure about the public's possible reaction or the effect it might have on my students' enrollment. Having been a member of such a church, I initially felt the ideas of Christian Science were unusual, although I had found Science and Health—which I had learned about through one of my students—inspiring.

As I prayed, I was led to share what I was learning by starting a Christian Science Organization at my business school. Even so, when we were planning to host the first Christian Science lecture there, I was still cautious when constructing sentences in the invitation letters and the posters. I omitted the words "Christian Science" in these materials, trusting the speaker to introduce it and elucidate it to the students during the lectures. The lecture topic was "Debt Management." Students turned up knowing that it would be a spiritual talk that would be accompanied by healing. I stated on the invitation letters that the speaker would quote the Bible and Science and Health, but I felt uneasy about having my school associated with Christian Science.