Much is written today about a declining church and about the loss of spiritual vitality in religions in the West. One hears of shrinking church attendance in some areas and of apathy in organized religion. But accompanying this trend is another one. There are widespread indications of a search for a more meaningful way of looking at life, a deep desire for something more than just what the material senses are describing, and a heartfelt yearning to find a supreme All-power for good in operation in the world.
How are we identifying ourselves and our own sense of church? Are we seeing church in terms of decline? Or are we seeing its inevitable role in rousing thought to find fresh spiritual answers? For a Christian Scientist, the choice is clear. Since the very nature of true Church is, in the words of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, "the structure of Truth and Love," Science and Health, p. 583. expressing the newness, freshness, continuity, buoyancy, and joy of Life itself—it is natural for a Christian Scientist to identify Church with progress and vitality.
How then is church to grow and increase? In absolute terms, it is impossible for Church to "increase." Church is already an established, complete fact. God is already All. His kingdom is already come. But what can and does increase is our understanding of true Church, of what God is—of the reality of His kingdom.
