Photo Credit: Elizabeth Aguina
My experience as a church member was getting dull. I wished to feel love and joy. Thankfully, God heard my desire and answered it with a spiritual breakthrough. I started to understand better what Church really is. I got some surprises, and, now that my love and joy are restored, I would like to share what came to me.
With empty seats at services, a declining membership, and unsatisfactory activity, it appeared there was something wrong with my church. This outlook continued until one day when it was recommended that I study the definition of Church in Science and Health. As I did so, it hit me that the Church I was reading about is God’s Church, the only true Church there is, and there could be nothing wrong with it. (See the definition of Church.) I’d say this definition gives us a description of the most glorious institution on the face of the earth. And it can act as an operating manual for Christian Science branch churches.
For example, even while understanding is “dormant,” church is still fully active. But the dormant understanding is not going to rouse itself. Therefore it has to be the church that makes the first move. This can lead to new ways of interacting with the community and a new self-image for a branch church and its members. Instead of trying to keep up with a changing world, the true Church impels the world to change. It takes the lead, and is proactive and bold. It seizes opportunities to shake and awaken the slumbering materialistic thought.
The word “dormant” tells us something about our neighbors, too. It shows us that their spiritual understanding, like ours, is already present within them. The dormant understanding, whether within or without the membership, is just waiting for church to rouse it.
This is just one way the definition of Church can be opened up to let in fresh air and light. This dynamic definition can inspire your healing practice of Christian Science—right where you are. You don’t have to look to the past or wait for the future to feel good about your church. It’s magnificent now.
But we must each see that we are in fact healers. Christ Jesus commanded us, as his followers, to heal the sick. We have all been given a healing career by divine authority. The decision we must make is: Will we obey this calling, take up the healing practice, and minister to the people, situations, and needs that are known uniquely to us? The very root of church decline may be our reluctance to do this. The enemy, or carnal mind, would make its strongest attack on our healing work because that is what our Church was founded to do and reinstate for mankind (see Church Manual, p. 17). But as our dormant practice of Christ-healing is awakened, a revived church will rise up around us.
Instead of trying to keep up with a changing world, the true Church impels the world to change. It takes the lead, and is proactive and bold.
Why do church members drop away? Consider this guidance from Mary Baker Eddy: “We can unite with this church only as we are newborn of Spirit, as we reach the Life which is Truth and the Truth which is Life by bringing forth the fruits of Love,—casting out error and healing the sick” (Science and Health, p. 35). I find that the core of that statement is: “We can unite with this church only . . . by . . . healing the sick.”
So if we don’t have some kind of healing practice, we cannot really unite with this church and will not feel our connection to it. We will either coast along with diminished joy and love, as I had been doing, or else we will just drift away. Instead of the attractive, freeing, satisfying, and indispensable blessing that church is meant to give, it could appear to be only one more human demand on our time in competition with other demands and activities. We have to heal to keep the church.
Once I started to see what church really is, and began to pray for others with healing effects, it was like putting the beef in the burger. The bun, lettuce, pickles, and cheese now all had a reason for being there. The church services, committee work, lectures, Sunday School, and other church activities, were now seen as contributing toward one central purpose—the healing practice. I began to hear the voice of our Pastor (the Bible and Science and Health) stressing the all-important place of healing. Science and Health tells us, “Our Master’s first article of faith . . . was healing . . .” (pp. 145–146), and, “First in the list of Christian duties, he taught his followers the healing power of Truth and Love” (p. 31).
Compare this with the suggestion that says, “Someday, when I’m ready or understand enough, I’ll be a healer,” as if healing were the last thing we would do! When we build a house, we don’t finish with the foundation. We begin with it. Jesus expected us to start our churches with our healing activity, and keep them going on that basis. That’s how he did it. “Jesus established his church and maintained his mission on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing” (Science and Health, p. 136). Do we have any better way than his?
If we were setting out to bake a cake, but neglected to put in the flour and eggs, we would fail. That’s because there’s a right way to bake a cake. The recipe doesn’t need to be improved; it just needs to be followed.
So, if we expect to establish or maintain a church and yet leave out our own healing practice, we will likewise fail. And it wouldn’t be because God doesn’t love us (He does) or because we are not personally worthy (we are). Nor would it necessarily be because of changes in societal attitudes toward church or any other outward condition. It would be because we are committing to demonstrate divine Science, and if we don’t obey the rules of this Science, we can’t have the results of obedience. There is no mystery about it. If we’re looking at a nearly empty church edifice and wondering how this could have happened, perhaps we could ask ourselves when was the last time we healed someone.
What will happen as a result of more active healing? There’s a Bible verse which to me answers this question. It says, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10). Couldn’t this imply that if all the members of a church contribute their healing practice, and bring this “meat” into God’s house, eventually there will not be room enough, literally, to receive all those who will want to attend and join that church?
Since getting an improved view of church, including my particular branch, I have felt a livelier spirit in our midst, and have seen new members added to our ranks. It’s a whole new ball game for me. But I didn’t need to leave my church in order to find one I could really feel good about. I just needed to unite with it.
