From TMC Youth Forum

This was a Forum entry at TMC Youth Church Unconfined:

I'm new to CS, living in an area without a church, but will be moving to a churched town. I've been looking forward to that and also am a bit apprehensive.

I have attended CS services and they have been a chore to get through. I study the lesson throughout the week and know that given my ways of prayer and study I could enter into what is being said if there were time between each reading. This is me. Silence is wonderful for me. However, I don't think more silence would do much for most newcomers.

'Speaking' to newcomers seems like a very important thing. Christian Science is a radically different approach to life. And the language can seem so very outdated until one has 'gotten it', so to speak.

I was around CS for 15 years before I began to grasp what is offered. I think it's a good idea to explore how CS can have services and events that are geared to people who haven't 'gotten it' yet. It was a close friend who offered me a few passages from S&H, just the right ones at just the right time, and who also directed me to spirituality.com (where I could read articles that used a different language from Mrs. Eddy) that helped me to finally see what this is. And since then I just have to have it in my life. And the language is no longer a barrier.

As I was reading Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth for the 2nd time recently - which is not CS but relates well and has had a very large readership this year - I wondered if CS churches could use things like this in the popular culture as outreach to a larger community than CS currently reaches. Another thing in popular culture that lends itself to great discussion of MBE's teachings is What the Bleep Do We Know? Even the movie The Matrix - which can seem rather dark - provides a wonderful opportunity for exploring MBE's teachings. I'm sure that there is much, much more in popular culture that is appealing to people's desire to live in the Spiritual reality of life, or their awareness that the culturally held views of life and meaning are not providing satisfaction. The media that is appealing to these people could be used to create conversations and bridges.

Mrs. Eddy's discovery, her writings, the movement are so incredible. I had come across the notion that matter isn't real - and thought that to be true - quite awhile before I understood that that is what the CS teachings offer me, a way to understand that and integrate that very freeing knowledge into my life. Now that I've discovered that CS offers me a way to study the Spiritual Reality on a daily basis and see it grow in my awareness I think that it has a potential audience that is far more vast than it is reaching.

In looking at how SOME services and events might be geared to newcomers CS can begin to tap into an audience that is hungry for its message. I think that this can be done in ways that honor what has been and is, while creating new possibilities.

http://www.tmcyouth.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2318

Some ideas about what my church would look like...

So many of you have asked what my church would look like. Here is a very brief outline of some of my primary ideas. For me it incorporates the Soul and Love of the Christian with the practice and learning aspects of the Science.

1. If nothing else were different I would still insist on modern translations - I can't see it any other way. I've been a dedicated CS all my life, but I've always studied my lesson from modern translations, the Bible readings in Church are almost incoherant to me. I can barely follow the meaning of the message, and I'm a College graduate in Religion. (However this is a topic for another forum.)

2. Modern Music - Soulful, uplifting, inspiring. I can't say what it is, but when I hear it it moves me. (Also a topic for another Forum).

Some of the Bigger Changes:

3. Each week, someone would speak in their own words, either about a specific healing, or about how an idea from the lesson made a difference in their life. This would be prepared before hand, not spontaneous, this must be of the highest Spiritual quality. Think "Sentinel Radio".

4. I would love to have lectures every week on a topic related to the Bible lesson that week. It would be best if they could have a relationship with the board of lectureship and be qualified speakers. Maybe the same person each week, probably a variety of speakers. These can be very deep think, or simple reminders, but must again be of the highest quality. Think "Cedars weekly Mets".

5. Something that would bring people back week after week, I believe, would be breakout sessions of small group discussions about these ideas, with practitioners facilitating the groups. Not Sunday School, just sharing and discussing.

6. I think a church should have full-time paid workers so that they can commit their lives to bringing this Truth to their community. These people should be in the public practice. A few of these positions might be a full-time Music Director, Lecture Director (who would manage the speakers), Education/Youth Director, Marketing/Outreach Director.

7. Ideally, the church would be open daily with different small groups meeting throughout the week. Offering courses like : "Fearless Parenting", "Finding Love", "How do I go into the Practice," "Truly living the Sermon on the Mount", "How to understand the Vocabulary in Science and Health" etc..

8. The Reading Room should be well located in the Church so people don't have to make special trips for literature. There could also be a study room available, though that's not what the point of a Reading Room is. (Also a topic for another Forum).

9. A very active Sunday School. This seems to be working well enough the way it is right now in the best churches. I would just research and implement the best practices from around the world.

10. Modern technology would have to be involved because this is the 21st Century and it's how people live and think and learn. (I'd love to hear peoples' ideas on how to do this).

I would build this church tomorrow even though it might mean it couldn't be officially recognized as a Branch Church. It's obviously something I couldn't do on my own. It must be done with only the most committed and dedicated Christian Scientists of the highest morale. (see: Rud 8:7) I'm always open to new ideas, these are just some of the thoughts that have come to me over years of ruminating over the purpose of church, what brings me the most joy, what I feel I can contribute, and what I understand is needed in my community.

New Wine/New Bottles

I was thinking about starting a blog called Broken Bottles because when you put new wine into old bottles the bottles break. The thought being this is what happens when you introduce the idea of change to most Christian Science churches. The churches get so focused on the battle that they can't seem to move forward. People get angry, some leave the church. It can be a great mess. The new ideas seem to break the old vessels.

But I don't want to focus on the mess, I want to talk about the new ideas. The more I think about changes I want to see in a Christian Science church service the more I realize the old churches can't handle it. New ideas must go into new churches. So I'm thinking about starting an entirely alternative service that isn't offered anywhere right now.

New church for a new service: New Wine and New Bottles.