Church Alive July 23, 2012 Issue

The following was written in support of Church Alive, a focus of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, that explores the meaning and possibilities of awakening to the spiritual basis and impact of Church.

Your questions about church

Answers offered by Tim Myers and Michelle Nanouche

Question: Our church is always faithful to the Church Manual (by Mary Baker Eddy) requirement that branch churches sponsor at least one lecture a year. We’ve had some wonderful speakers, and we always have a few new faces show up at the lectures. But it seems like we don’t build any real momentum after lectures—we don’t see the newcomers again, we go back to “business as usual,” and our community continues to be largely unaware of Christian Science. Is there something we can (or should?) be doing differently to help our community see our church and Christian Science as an invaluable resource? 

Good question, and one I think others are wrestling with. In answering the question, I think it’s worth examining the concept of a relationship. I know that when I was lecturing, many times audience members who were not church members or students of Christian Science came with friends or others with whom they had a relationship. The success of those lectures in reaching the newcomer depended on those relationships.

The same is true for churches. Churches that are successfully sharing Christian Science often have a growing relationship with the community that is based on more than one or two events in a year. 

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