Interviews

People sometimes think of Christian Science practitioners as a very select group. Is it true that this work belongs to a small, specially endowed group? No, it's open to every individual.

Recently , William E. Moody, Editor of The Christian Science Journal, had the privilege of talking with a Protestant minister who has been studying Christian Science for more than five years now.

Shortly after hurricane Andrew struck South Florida, Associate Editor Mary Trammell visited the area. She attended a Sunday service at First Church of Christ, Scientist, Homestead, the main edifice of which had been devastated, and interviewed several people attending the service.

This month we have taken the opportunity to speak with Jean Stark Hebenstreit and Michael B. Thorneloe, who have been teachers in the Board of Education established by Mary Baker Eddy.

How do Christian Science practitioners who have families balance the demands of family life with a calling that may mean long hours and irregular schedules, often including weekends and evenings? To judge from several recent interviews with practitioners, the simplest answer is "through prayer. " Quite often, the practice is something of a family affair, and the support and adaptability of a spouse or children mean much.

Conflict over resources and lifestyles doesn't have to be our model for the future of international development. We are at a crucial turning point where this pattern of thought can yield to a more universal, a more spiritual approach.

In 1941, during the Nazi regime in Germany, the Church of Christ, Scientist, along with many other churches, was banned. Christian Scientists, like Lutherans, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and some ethnic groups, were interrogated, harassed, and sometimes sent to forced labor or concentration camps.

Last July, the Journal included excerpts from interviews with several Christian Science practitioners (pages 17-21). We asked them, how they had come to devote their lives to helping others through prayer.

If a marriage "isn't working," the general view might be to separate and call it quits—especially if the decision to marry hadn't seemed very inspired to begin with. But that wasn't the choice of one young wife, who concluded that Christian Science had shown her she had more than a personal, limited love to express.

Interviewer: You recently addressed a conference on the future of mainline churches. What do these mainline churches have to do to attract members? Nordbeck: Be churches, that's what they have to do.