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Growing Church
Live audio chat with the Christian Science Board of Directors; Chet Manchester, hosting
In this chat, the Directors and Chet spoke about nurturing the Christian Science movement around the world. Using metaphors about gardening and concepts from the Bible (especially Matthew 13), they discussed church growth, challenges, and vision. Healing is what will nurture a church, they said, because it is inseparable from the activity of the Christ. Even a little lifting of the mental darkness in people's lives is an example of healing.
"Prayer is practical action," they noted, and it can lead to involvement in community activities—or not, as each church follows its own guidance from the Christ. As Mary Baker Eddy put it, "The human self must be evangelized," (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 254) and this includes having compassion for our own members as well as for other individuals. The Directors said, "We have to have faith in Christian Science treatment when we have divisions in Church" and to trust this treatment to build a universal sense of brotherhood and a feeling of connection with each other.
For more on this topic, visit the Church Alive page and the "Growing Church" discussion area.
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