"This age is reaching out towards the perfect Principle of things; ..." (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 232). In 2004, this concept was presented at a Christian Science Reading Room workshop given in the Orlando, Florida, area as the basis for churches and individuals to respond to humanity's reaching out to know God. This call to action spurred the membership of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Winter Park, Florida, to form an ad hoc committee to consider ways to respond to their community's reaching out, and even to the needs of young people within their own Sunday School. The church's current treasurer, Steven Wennerstrom, gathered some highlights of how this responsiveness has vitalized their church activities.
FOR OVER SIX MONTHS, our ad hoc committee considered more than one hundred ideas. A few of those ideas came to a formal vote by the membership and were implemented by drawing on the talents and interests of individual members. One of the first was the membership's commitment to broadcasting the Sentinel Radio program in a Sunday morning time slot affordable within our budget. Sentinel Radio has now been broadcast in the area for three years.
Another idea opened up to minister to the youth in the county juvenile detention center. A member, who is a librarian, reads to these young people and to the children in an Orlando homeless shelter as part of her job. Her contacts opened the way in 2006 for the church to hold a weekly Bible-study program based on Christian Science at the juvenile center. And that led to establishing an Institutional Committee.
