When Christian Science first burst onto the scene, what people saw was a group of church members acting as though Christianity were making a massive practical difference in their lives.
It must have been quite startling. There had been evangelical surges. But for the most part, perfectly sincere Christians were attending church, hearing sermons, occasionally being inspired. Now suddenly here were people taking, in a different way, the same Christianity others had been immersed in, with a remarkably different effect. The effect included Christian healing and seemed closer to the Christianity described in the New Testament.
Those who became Christian Scientists at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries felt invigorated and energized. The healings of physical illness and the changes in their lives that came about through spiritual treatment were so practical and obvious that family members and acquaintances were frequently attracted. They, too, became Scientists.
