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Church Alive

OPENING OUR DOORS

With an earnest desire to attract more people to our church, our small membership voted to purchase expensive front doors and a new sign. At first, I was critical of the decision, knowing that those kinds of changes alone are not what bring people to church.

MUMBAI, INDIA

WHENEVER I'VE VISITED the United States, I have been so tempted to sell my apartment here in Mumbai, India, and settle in one of the lovely cities over there. But my first love always holds me back.

JERSEYVILLE, ILLINOIS

"WE ARE AN ACTIVE CHURCH IN A CHURCH-GOING COMMUNITY," says John Williams, a longtime member of First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Jerseyville, Illinois. Mr.

LARKSPUR, CALIFORNIA

FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, LARKSPUR, CALIFORNIA, prospered for half a century. But by the late 1990s, membership had declined to fewer than ten active members.

UKHTA, RUSSIA

AS FAR BACK AS I CAN REMEMBER , I have always believed in God. I was christened in the Russian Orthodox Church, but my family didn't attend church regularly.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA: Down here, they just call it the storm. As in, "before the storm.

CHURCH ALIVE

NEW ORLEANS LOUISIANA UKHTA RUSSIA LARKSPUR CALIFORNIA JERSEYVILLE ILLINOIS MUMBAI INDIA THAT FEELING—the one you get when you step outside after a church service and the sky lights up–everything feels brighter, your heart sings with happiness. That's church alive.