CHRISTIAN SCIENCE presents unfoldment, not accretion," Mrs. Eddy has stated in her clear-cut way on page 68 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures;" and a study of this one sentence alone is rich in its revealings.
In the world which is called material the bud becomes a flower not because humanity adds one petal upon another, but because the flower unfolds from the seed. Mankind's part is but to water it, let the warm sunlight shine upon it, and keep away the weeds—and behold, the flower unfolds in all its beauty.
This illustrates the modus operandi of all metaphysical work that is spiritual; and it may be seen to be particularly applicable to church building. That is, we are not concerned so much about piling material stone upon material stone, nor even dollar upon dollar, as we are about watering with the dew of clear thinking the beautiful spiritual seed which has been sown in the consciousness of the church members. We keep it ever in the sunlight of Truth's warm, impelling rays, and we patiently and faithfully pull up each offending weed of error that would crowd out the lovely plant or sap its vitality. Then, as surely as the loving God is Life, the Church will unfold beautifully and majestically to the glory of God; for the power of unfoldment is within the seed itself, within the spiritual idea. It is very important to think of Church as a divine idea rather than as a material structure to be materially built. We must turn thought from the physical or material and consider the spiritual facts in regard to Church, just as consistently as with any other problem. The perfect realization of the truth results in the perfect demonstration of that truth.
