How I Found Christian Science May 14, 2018 Issue

‘I wanted to serve God’

Benjamim Pilipili Vonga

It was the early 1990s, and I was living in Paris. I had been praying for many years to find a religion that would help me learn about God. I wanted to serve God, but a God I could know and understand.

However, it wasn’t until I moved back to Luanda, the capital city of my native Angola, that I found Christian Science. I remained in Angola for some time at a friend’s house, and my friend had some Christian Science literature, including a magazine called The Herald of Christian Science, which he gave me. I knew nothing about Christian Science, but I loved everything I read in that magazine. In fact, for about six months the Herald was the only thing I read every day.

Later, for business purposes, I went to Uige, a province in the northern part of the country, where I met a Christian Scientist who gave me another Herald. I kept asking him for more Heralds, and he kept giving me more until he ran out. The spiritual ideas that the writers shared in the magazines gave me a more positive view of religion and, gradually, the understanding of God I had been searching for. I think the Herald’s message is accessible to all, whatever one’s background or level of education, and the magazines conveyed the teachings of Christian Science in such a simple, natural way that I felt I could apply what I was learning from them right away.