Christian Science practitioners provide prayer upon request with the expectation that quick healing will follow. It is both a spiritual ministry and a professional practice.
In my practice, I’ve sometimes been asked to fix a monthly retainer fee in case the treatment should go on for a while. Of course, to such questions, I can only speak for myself. Each practitioner comes to his or her own conclusions regarding billing and the professional relationship with patients, working under the guidelines provided in the Manual of The Mother Church and Mary Baker Eddy’s other writings. But I consider taking a case on retainer to be inconsistent with my practice because it burdens a case with the assumption that prolonged treatment is necessary.
Christian Science prayer does not follow any medical treatment model. One disease is not more difficult, more time consuming, or more complicated than any other, to heal through prayer. Prayer moves away from symptom management to the healing Christ, the powerful message of health that God is always giving us. Spiritually clearer views of God and His healthy creation are always the subject of healing prayer. Symptoms of disease don’t dictate the prayer nor do they influence the treatment time. Spirituality, never time, is the condition for healing.
