Meet it head on. That's what we must do with this question. We cannot get people to come to church unless we analyze their reasons for not coming. And our analysis must be courageous as well as thorough.

One reason people choose not to go to church is that they find church services dull. We can meet this in two ways. We can tell people that they must go to church because it is their duty to go, or we can see to it that the services are not dull.

Of course, it is the duty of everyone who joins a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, to support the services of that church by his regular attendance. But it is a misrepresentation of Christian Science to present a Sunday service or Wednesday testimony meeting in the name of that religion which is not interesting enough to attract more than the members of the church. A Christian Science service is an active response to the command of Christ Jesus, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16: 15). Such a service should represent clearly the action of Christian Science in the lives of men.

If one is a plumber, the practice of Christian Science will enable him not only to perform his task well, but to find new ways to do what a plumber must do. If one is an educator, he will find himself able to comprehend better the factors involved in his particular field of education and to bring forth new constructive methods for liberating mankind from ignorance and for training them to live more effective lives. Whatever field of work one is in, Christian Science will make his outlook alive, his days exciting, and his contribution to the world he lives in fresh and good.

If a church member sees Christian Science as the active, transforming law of divine Life, illumining the good in human activity and exposing the nothingness of evil, he can visualize an ideal church service as one that reflects the irresistibly attractive, brilliant, cleansing, healing light, drawing laborers, scholars, housewives, executives, artists, children, to church and leaving them refreshed and inspired. And beholding this ideal, he can devote himself fervently to the task of bringing the services in his church in line with it. If, on the other hand, a member views Christian Science as a means of escape from human life, he may support those qualities in the church service which present it as a retreat from the necessity to face the demands of changing times.

It requires courage to face oneself and ask: "What should this church service mean to me? Do I regard it as a rousing, challenging, healing event? or do I see it as a soothing sedative, giving temporary relief from the stresses and strains of a week at work?" A service in a Christian Science church should show forth the practical nature of Christian Science, its twenty-four-hour-a-day applicability. This applicability is not only to make the usual human activities go better but to improve these activities by revealing to each individual his God-given capacities.

These capacities are limitless because the divine Principle, God, is limitless. As we come to understand this we see that the spiritual qualities expressed in any human activity are real, and that the material obstructions and discords in human activity are unreal. Our services must present to human consciousness a clear view of the nothingness of limitation and of the infinite power of spiritual understanding.

A church service should show forth Christian Science, defined by Mrs. Eddy in "Rudimental Divine Science" thus: "As the law of God, the law of good, interpreting and demonstrating the divine Principle and rule of universal harmony" (p. 1).

Everything that is done in a church service illustrates the thoughts of the members of that church. If a Reader thinks of the citations he is reading in terms of their dynamic application to the lives of the members of the congregation, he will take whatever steps he must take in order to make his reading clear and distinct, and he will work persistently to bring out what the Bible or Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy is saying and to turn his own and the congregation's thought to it and away from the mere sound of the Reader's voice.

If the members of a church realize that the message of Christian Science presented at each service in readings, hymns, and testimonies, as well as in the attitudes and actions of all who participate, is a timeless and therefore a modern message, they will do whatever they can see to do to make every detail of the service contribute to the up-to-dateness of the presentation. Then everything from the clothes worn by Readers to the smiles worn by those who attend the service, from the paint on the walls to the tempo of the hymns—everything that one experiences from the time he walks into the church grounds until the time he leaves at the conclusion of the service— will be a dynamic experience. It will convince anyone that regular attendance at such a service is indispensable to one who would keep pace with this age.

Then we shall no longer need to tell people why they ought to go to church. But we shall have to build more churches to accommodate those who want to attend.

Carl J. Welz