Branch church members often come up with innovative ways to share Christian Science lectures. These members care deeply about their neighbors, and they show it through prayer and listening to God. The results are inspired ideas and sound ways to implement them in each individual situation. This work helps implement Article XXXI, Sect. 2, of The Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy, which reads in part: "It is the duty of the Board of Lectureship to include in each lecture a true and just reply to public topics condemning Christian Science, and to bear testimony to the facts pertaining to the life of the Pastor Emeritus. . . ."
While preparing for its upcoming spring lecture, the lecture committee of a branch church let one of its members conduct a survey in which townspeople were questioned about their attitudes toward Christian Science as well as toward religion in general. The object of the survey was to help the committee determine how best to support the lecture prayerfully. The member interviewed passers-by outside the community library.
After listening to these brief taped interviews, the committee agreed that the vast majority of their neighbors were not so much hostile toward Christian Science as almost totally unfamiliar with its basic teachings. In addition, the committee identified several concepts that would tend to prevent people from finding in Christian Science the answers to their needs.
