A recent news article reports a “mass exodus” away from Christianity in the United States. It refers to adults who grew up in Christianity but have left the religion and church as “nonverts.” Statistics show that an increasing number of people around the world are shunning religion. (See Suzette Lohmeyer and Anna Deen, “A mass exodus from Christianity is underway in America. Here’s why,” Grid News, December 17, 2022.)

While anyone who loves church and has experienced the blessings it brings to individuals and communities should be alert to this trend, the Bible offers reassurance. The prophet Isaiah describes the kingdom of Christ thus: “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:7).

Echoing this prophecy in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, who founded the Church of Christ, Scientist, writes, “. . . ‘of his kingdom there shall be no end,’ for Christ, God’s idea, will eventually rule all nations and peoples—imperatively, absolutely, finally—with divine Science” (p. 565). This is heartening, because it means that the continued existence of Christ’s kingdom as represented humanly by church is secure in God’s immutable promise.

The story of the prophet Elijah is instructive. He was dejected because he believed that everyone had abandoned worship of the one true God and that only he remained faithful (see I Kings 19:1–18). He was also fleeing Queen Jezebel, who was seeking to kill him. However, a better understanding of God calmed his troubled thought, and shortly after, God opened his eyes to see that there were actually seven thousand worshipers who were still faithful to the living God.

What part do we play in helping humanity, including ourselves, recognize the privilege and joy of church? By living Church—the spiritual idea of Church. One important way to do this is through healing the way Jesus did. Mrs. Eddy includes this By-Law in the Manual of The Mother Church: “I recommend that each member of this Church shall strive to demonstrate by his or her practice, that Christian Science heals the sick quickly and wholly, thus proving this Science to
be all that we claim for it” (p. 92). 

Anyone who feeds those hungry for love, uplifts the lost, comforts the mourner, and succors the stranger is living Church.

Christian Science teaches how to achieve this. Having a desire to know God and becoming acquainted—through the light shed by Science and Health—with the revelatory spiritual ideas presented in the Bible enable us to begin to heal through prayer, as Jesus healed.

We can also know that everyone desires to see good in their life. Science and Health states, “The aspiration after heavenly good comes even before we discover what belongs to wisdom and Love” (p. 265). It’s encouraging that most people want to help the community and be useful and healthy—qualities of God, divine Love, that Church includes and nurtures. It’s only a beclouded sense of Church that hides these treasures from our view. Christ, Truth, breaks through whatever would hide the vitality and joy of Church. Christ isn’t limited to any church or religion but is the practical manifestation of the universal God, appearing to all humanity in the way each individual can best understand.

If we think that healing as Jesus did is an impossible or a future goal, we can know that we each have more of a healing practice than we realize. Anyone who feeds those hungry for love, patiently dries the tears of the hurting, uplifts the thought of the lost, comforts the mourner, gives hope to the hopeless, and succors the stranger and homesick is living Church.

Church itself must afford “proof of its utility” and be “found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas” (Science and Health, p. 583). Its services and sermons must heal the sick and sinning. This may seem like a tall order, but as God’s idea, Church is intrinsically equipped to meet this standard and the need. Jesus promises that even the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church founded on Christ (see Matthew 16:18). We are each “ ‘living stones’ in the universal temple of Spirit” (Mary Baker Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 64). We are each integral to Church.

Heartfelt consecration to God raises the banner of divine Love and the standard of divine Truth, showing that the life and healing practice of each one of us, however modest, is a fundamental and indispensable part of the structure of Church.

The desire to see a reversal in the trend of declining churches starts with each of us. Our commitment and rededication to church ignite and rekindle our hearts with the fire of love and zeal for God and man, quickening what may seem like a deadened or shrinking sense of church. Christian healing draws the yearning heart to church. Then, like Elijah, we can experience God revealing to us those many faithful seekers ready to receive Love’s transforming ideas. Thus we find that Church is vibrant, permanent—and essential.

Moji George, Associate Editor