The right idea of Church is wholly spiritual. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 583), Mary Baker Eddy gives us a clear and comprehensive definition of "Church." It is, in part, "The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle." Church then consists of spiritual ideas and is the manifestation of God's presence and power. The real Church is the embodiment of all that is good, pure, holy, and righteous. Paul refers to Christ as "the head of the body, the church." Thus the Christ-consciousness is the expression of the true Church, for it is the unfolding to human apprehension of the divine illumination which reveals God's goodness and tender mercies.
One cannot gain a true concept of Church without perceiving it to be the infinite expression of Mind through its ideas, because in its finality it is "whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle." To the extent that the individual discerns in Science 'the structure of Truth and Love," the ceaseless action of Mind's ideas, will he apprehend more of the Christ, Truth, which enables him to establish his divine heritage of dominion, wisdom, and perfection, to experience the joyful unfoldment of every righteous desire and the complete fulfillment of every Christlike endeavor. As the true concept of Church unfolds in human consciousness it results in a clearer apprehension of God and His creation, a more comprehensive realization of man, of whom Mrs. Eddy writes (ibid., p. 475): "Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas." Thus as the individual spiritualizes his concept of Church he invariably begins to manifest right activity, greater mental alertness and an increased capacity for constructive accomplishment, a better sense of health and perfection, a larger measure of God's sufficiency.
The Christian Science movement expresses the most spiritual form of religious activity existing today. It is the institution that has shed the garments of material rites, ritual, and formalism, and the foundation on which it is built is the healing Christ. It exemplifies the Christianity and works taught and practiced by Jesus, the Way-shower, and fulfills his declaration that his Church was to be built upon the rock, the rock of spiritual understanding.
