If you ask what's new with the Board of Lectureship, the answer could easily fill more than this page. Our ongoing challenge and opportunity is to explore new ways of telling the world about Christian Science and its Discoverer, Mary Baker Eddy, while remaining true to our roots in the Manual of The Mother Church. For more than 100 years, the main activity of this Board has been to give in-person lectures to audiences in various locations worldwide where Christian Science has found a home in the form of a branch church, society, or college organization. The atmosphere of inspiration and healing present at these live events can't be measured or replaced. Working with members to provide these in-person lectures is still our primary activity.
However, Jesus' command to "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15) has taken on a new dimension with the World Wide Web. This communication network provides countless new ways of participating in conversations on virtually any topic. In the book of Acts we're told that when Paul was in Athens, he was invited to speak where "all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing" (Acts 17:21). The Internet is that place today, and Christian Science lectures need to be there to engage with those who are searching for "some new thing."
Some longtime readers of The Christian Science Monitor remember when printed the text of every lecture given at The Mother Church. Although that is no longer done, we're pleased to report that we now videotape every lecture given at The Mother Church so it can be posted on our website where anyone can watch it anytime. Someone who recently discovered these videos wrote enthusiastically, "The day of the printed lecture in the Monitor may be over, but look at what replaces it."
