It is amazing to ponder the tremendous growth of Christianity from just one man, Christ Jesus, to the more than two billion Christians today. What caused the early Christian church to multiply in such numbers? I have found in the Bible a solid foundation for the Church’s growth and aliveness that has been very helpful in praying about our Church today.
The Scriptures tell us that Christ Jesus established his church on Peter’s rock-solid understanding of Jesus’ identity as “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16), which was revealed to Peter by the Father. Jesus impelled his disciples to acknowledge that the power behind all of his healing work was this Christ, “the godliness which animated him” (Science and Health, p. 26), and this placed the church on a divinely defined track. Wouldn’t that mean that everything about Church has to do with following, living, and cherishing the Christ, the divine idea of man’s oneness with God and the basis of all healing? The more we are living the message of the Christ that gives structure to our oneness with God, the more we are connected with Church. So we can never be separated from Church any more than we can be separated from Christ.
Underlying the Church’s growth and vitality is the overarching fact that Church is a divine idea, supported and perpetuated by God, the only Cause and Creator. Mary Baker Eddy declared, “The creative Principle—Life, Truth, and Love—is God,” and then she connected that statement with Church, which she defined as “the structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle” (Science and Health, pp. 502 and 583). Church is structured by divine Truth and Love, with Principle as its basis and foundation. This Principle is like a rock, for
Principle is invariable and indestructible, eternally secure. The vitality and growth of the Church is caused and perpetuated by divine Life itself.
