Adapted from a talk given at the Boston Church Alive Summit in June 2011.
Some of you may be wondering why a trustee of The Christian Science Publishing Society has been asked to give a talk on Church. After all, the Publishing Society isn’t Church. It is the publishing arm of the Church. And while that is correct, the Publishing Society is a definite facet of Church and is inseparable from it.
Mary Baker Eddy described our periodicals as the “organs of this Church” (Church Manual, p. 44). If you think of Church in the terms of St. Paul—as the body of Christ—and the periodicals as the organs of that body, you see the vital, interdependent relationship that exists between them. The periodicals are at the very heart of Church, and Church is at the very heart of our periodicals. And ultimately The Christian Science Journal, Christian Science Sentinel, The Herald of Christian Science, and The Christian Science Monitor are owned by the Church’s membership who write for, edit, subscribe, read, and share our publications. As a result, it’s fair to say that if you’re a member of this Church, you’re also a member of The Christian Science Publishing Society.
