Because there was a good-sized church of a different denomination only a block away, some members speculated that the whole neighborhood was mainly made up of people who preferred that church, and that perhaps the Christian Science church was poorly located. "This is not a Christian Science community," some said.
About that time, an Assistant to the Manager of the Department of Branches and Practitioners of The Mother Church was invited to talk with the membership. He proposed many progressive ideas but stressed that prayer should precede action. The message evidently hit home, because sometime later a member wrote: "Your remarks . . . about praying before, during, and after [executive] board meetings was certainly timely in my case. I was so busy getting the books ready for board meetings . . . I was overlooking the most important part, prayer. I have approached these meetings in an entirely new light, and things are happening."
To start with, he reported that they had prepared a map of the county, marking the address of each church member with a dot. As a result they found that their present church building clearly stood at the geographic center of the membership—a good spot to be. Next, quarterly financial reports were issued to keep all the members continually appraised of the church's financial picture. At the first admission of members following the Assistant's visit, five people were voted into membership—more than had been taken in at one time for many years.
