Would you like to be part of a church that is flexible, inclusive, approving, happy, and trying new things? Then try this: Take possession of your church experience—more consciously be the church you’d like to be part of.
You’re probably used to the responsibility and practice of taking possession of your thoughts and your body. Mary Baker Eddy encouraged us to do this in Science and Health when she said: “Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action” (p. 393).
Something I’ve been doing, and something our branch church has been doing, is to be more in charge of, more exploratory and freer about, what we do as a church. A few years ago, we realized that we’d become a small group with lots of rules and committees—rules that had made more sense when the membership was much larger and operating in a different time.
We began discussing ways of being more conversational and friendly in our services and more inclusive in our relationship with our community. Over a few years, the ways we practiced church—how we put it into action—began to change. A number of adjustments gradually occurred that made church more intimate and friendly, such as meeting in smaller spaces (more our size), reading at the same level as the audience (rather than from a platform), using modern Bible translations, dressing casually, using e-mail to communicate as a group. Some of these changes we discussed as a whole church, some were changes initiated by individuals as they felt led to do so.
As a group we discussed the fact that our building was way too big, and used too few hours each week, to justify the cost of maintaining it. So we rented it out and started meeting in other public spaces, improving the comfort of our services and moving our group from financial frailty to robustness.
Later on, we made our services and meetings (including business meetings) available by conference call, making them more accessible to people traveling, working late, or unable to get out. This innovation enabled us to have a Wednesday evening Reader who lives in a different state!
And we started trying things that would make us more interactive with our community. The rule became, If anyone in our church wanted to try something and was willing to organize it, we’d all support it. Then afterward, we’d discuss how it worked. We became a group of “yes-sayers” instead of naysayers.
So, we participate in spirit-mind-body expos, where we sell Science and Health and offer free Christian Science treatment in our booth. We started occasional spiritual cinema events—public showings of movies centered around spiritual ideas, with discussion afterward—which we promoted to people who had given us their e-mail addresses at expos and other events we participated in. One member recently put up our new Facebook page.
As each of us continues to think of ways to individually be the church we each want to be part of, our group attracts people who are comfortable with our way of being a church. During this time, our membership has grown modestly. Attendance at our Wednesday meetings has grown substantially. Most important, everyone is honestly enjoying and feeling blessed by their church experience.
What kind of church would you like to be part of? There are lots of ways to do it, and God is empowering you and inspiring you today with specific intentions, energy, and guidance to do it the way that works for you.
