Branch Church News

I often like to think about a requirement found in the Manual of The Mother Church: “It shall be the duty of the members of The Mother Church and of its branches to promote peace on earth and good will toward men; .

I’d like to comment  on church growth/decline, as someone who is very active in a Christian Science branch church with a small congregation. I think the signs of growth are everywhere, if we look in the right places.

For decades, ever since Mary Baker Eddy asked her secretary to begin holding Christian Science services at a local jail in Concord, New Hampshire, Christian Science chaplains and others on institutional committees around the world (approximately 517 today in the United States alone) have been volunteering countless hours in local jails, prisons, and mental health facilities. They are the unsung heroes among church workers—those whose unselfish care for their neighbor often goes unnoticed or under-appreciated among other “church work.

LAST YEAR ON NEW YEAR'S DAY , a string of ten deliberately set church fires began in Athens, Texas, and moved to Canton and across East Texas. On Saturday, January 16, the Tyland Baptist Church in Tyler burned, and the following night, some of our members saw our church—First of Christ, Scientist, Tyler—burn.

IN SPRING 2008 , our congregation moved its Reading Room into the church building. At our location in Syracuse, New York, the church is set back quite a distance from the road.

FOR AT LEAST A DECADE, the Christian Science church in Joinville, Brazil, suffered from severe stagnation. At times, only one person attended the Sunday service.

LIFE IS FULL OF NOTABLE EVENTS: A friend's silver wedding anniversary, a grandson's high-school graduation, and, for some, even a long-awaited spring is worth celebrating. Recently, I have been reflecting on a notable event of my own.

ASH FROM 9/11 was still on the sidewalk when our search committee found a rental space two blocks from the World Trade Center site. We spent months before the tragedy looking for something in midtown, but this was a clear call to establish the Comforter's presence where it was most needed.

Over the past several years, The Mother Church has renewed a focus on its relationship to Christian Science churches and societies in African countries. The goal of this work is to better understand how to most appropriately support efforts on the ground, particularly in the areas of sub-Saharan Africa that are seeing the most growth: Angola, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria.

In spring 2010, young Christian Scientists participated in two TMC Youth Summits in Atlanta and New York City. Both summits featured entertainment, lectures, and discussions on topics such as "Sharing Christian Science" and "Primary Class Instruction.