"Each church or society," Mary Baker Eddy wrote in the April 1895 Journal, "formed for Sunday worship, shall elect two Readers...." "Church and School,' p. 1 . Worship was the core purpose for gathering, and organizational forms for worship gradually evolved.
The Journal began listing "Churches and Societies" in 1889. But the term society had been in use among Protestants since American colonial times. By the 19th century, society in some cases designated an unincorporated church.
Societies were at first defined partly by what they were not, as worshipers not yet organized into churches. But the two designations were less about numbers of members, and more about different ways to provide regular public worship—and access to Christian Science healing. According to the Church Manual (see pp. 72–73), it takes 16 people to organize a church, four of whom must be members of The Mother Church. To become a Christian Science society, a group must have at least two Mother Church members to serve as Readers, but the total number of people is not specified. At least one member must be an active, advertising healer in order to organize as a church.
