Branch Church News
In the Manual of The Mother Church , Article XXIII, Section 7, Mary Baker Eddy states the requirements for organizing branch churches: "A branch church of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, Mass. , shall not be organized with less than sixteen loyal Christian Scientists, four of whom are members of The Mother Church.
Soon after I joined a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, my first assignment was to teach in the Sunday School. I thought that would be a wonderful privilege, because I loved children.
I was planning the agenda for a Sunday School staff meeting in my church. I wanted to come up with an inspired way to encourage honest self-evaluation of the job we were doing as teachers.
I was given the Sunday School class that covers the post-high-school students. Presently, this involves three freshman college women.
During my first day serving in a Christian Science Reading Room I went about my duties. When I almost watered some artificial flowers, I laughed and thought how fooled we can be if we're not alert.
During a recent lecture season, our church—First Church of Christ, Scientist, Clarkson Valley, Missouri—initiated a new idea by sharing a lecture on Christian Science with employees of a large local Roman Catholic hospital in Missouri. Our lecturer, who had formerly been a pediatrician for more than twenty years, was received warmly and enthusiastically.
My friend had just returned from a trip with her husband to Arizona. I was eager to hear about the sights and, in particular, the shopping she did in Scottsdale.
Ways of sharing Science and Health While serving as a Christian Science chaplain in the St. Louis prison system some time ago, I visited as a counselor once a week.
The following members of The Christian Science Board of Lectureship are available to give in-person lectures for the lecture year that began July 1, 1995, Any lecturer may be invited by any branch church or Christian Science college organization to lecture in any part of the world. Please note: Broadcast lectures produced by The Christian Science Board of Directors for radio and television are given by individuals who are also appointed members of the Board of Lectureship.
Christian Scientists all over the world are thinking deeply about the role of Christian Science Reading Rooms, and especially about the relationship of the Reading Room to the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. There is a growing and earnest desire to understand more clearly the purpose of the Reading Room in the community and to explore further the potential for the ministering activity of this book in individual towns and cities.