In an age when most church congregations across denominations are reportedly dwindling, my wife and I were grateful to find a Christian Science church open for a Sunday service during a recent trip to Illinois from our hometown in Texas.
While talking to two church members in Illinois who belong to different branches of The Mother Church—The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston—I thanked them sincerely for their service and for keeping the doors open despite their relatively small congregations. They told me they were lifelong Christian Scientists who in their lifetime had seen their congregations go from big numbers that filled big buildings to only a few dedicated workers.
For my wife and me, the experience has been quite different. I have never been a part of a large Christian Science congregation. I had attended churches of many different faiths in my youth, which ranged from packed services in large edifices to small revival meetings in homes. When I first entered a Church of Christ, Scientist, during my freshman year in college, it made no difference to me that it had few members. I loved that the Bible Lesson-Sermons dove right into the more difficult points in Christian theology, rather than avoiding or sugarcoating them.
