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In this interview, Noozhawk connected with the First Church of Christ, Scientist to learn more about their organization and the work they do in the community.
First Church of Christ, Scientist
Question: What is the name of your nonprofit, and what is its mission?
Answer: First Church of Christ, Scientist, Santa Barbara is one of the worldwide branch churches of The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts, the Christian Science Church Headquarters.
In 1879, Mary Baker Eddy founded the Christian Science church with the following mission: “To organize a church designed to commemorate the word and works of our Master [Christ Jesus], which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing.” We are a Christian denomination that emphasizes following the teachings of Christ Jesus, particularly the Sermon on the Mount, in our daily lives.
Christ Jesus’ saving and redeeming mission for humanity included the practice of spiritual healing that was a significant aspect of early Christianity. In all he did, he showed his followers then and us today God’s grace and limitless love for humanity.
The purpose of our local branch church, First Church of Christ, Scientist, Santa Barbara, is to heal, present Christian Science to the Santa Barbara community, and support the spiritual growth of its members, attendees and community, collectively. The purpose includes meeting the needs of our community through healing and sharing the love of God.
For example, one member commented, “I could stay home and pray on my own, and I did that and loved it, but then I realized that there are other people who have similar beliefs, and there are other people who would be benefited by knowing the healing Christ.
There is a reason for me and our church to exist to bring that to others and help my fellow Christian Scientists grow, just like they have helped me grow. For example, after a church service, I realized on the way home that I was healed of an issue with my body.”
Q: How long has your organization been serving the community, and who founded it?
A: Christian Science began in Santa Barbara in 1882 by Mr. John Hiller and Mrs. Julia E. Hiller of Escanaba, Michigan, who came as winter visitors. They returned in 1884 to make Santa Barbara, California, their home. Starting in 1892, Sunday services were held regularly in the home of Mr. and Mrs. C.H. Frink. The first public services began in 1895 in the Channel City Hall at the corner of Carrillo and Chapala Streets.
In the summer of 1896, a Christian Science Society and a Sunday School were organized. In March 1899, the first public lecture on Christian Science was given in Santa Barbara by Mr. A.A. Sulcer, M.D., who began studying Christian Science and became a Christian Science practitioner and teacher in Riverside. (A Christian Science practitioner is an individual devoted to helping people find healing through prayer to God as taught in the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy.)
In October 1900, First Church of Christ, Scientist, Santa Barbara, California, was organized under the laws of the state. A current church member shared, “Historically, thinking of the first people meeting in a living room, what probably motivated them is what motivates me – sharing the gospel, sharing God’s Word, and blessing other people’s lives so they can learn how Jesus Christ healed and experience healing.”
Q: What motivated the creation of your nonprofit?
A: While we’re not able to speak with specificity about the motivations of individuals who established the church 125 years ago, we can speak to our current motivation in maintaining this church, which may well align with the original motive – that is, to love God and our neighbor.
A church member shared, “To give back what the church has given to me over the decades, so it is available to others who are seeking. There is a lot of inspiration I gain from attending church that prepares me to meet the challenges of the week.” Many members speak of healings they’ve experienced in church and what a redeeming and comforting presence it is in their lives.
Q: What types of events or programs do you run to engage your community and raise funds?
A: All our work is about serving the community and offering the Word that uplifts and heals anything and everything. For instance, we offer the community a Christian Science Reading Room, twice weekly church services, Sunday School, and periodic lectures that share relevant and healing solutions to address topics needing healing in our community.
For more details, the Christian Science Reading Room is located at 1301 State Street at the corner of Victoria Street in Downtown Santa Barbara. There you can read or buy the Bible and other Bible study materials. Mary Baker Eddy’s book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which readers say helps open up the Bible and its message of salvation to them, is also available, along with other works by her.
We also offer a variety of children’s books, audio, and Christian Science periodicals in different languages. There are peaceful study areas in the Reading Room where you can read, research, listen to CDs, or quietly pray in air-conditioned comfort. The community is welcome to come in and browse on their own; a staff member is always available to help answer questions.
Our church holds two services every week, each about an hour long. Everyone is welcome to attend. The first weekly service for the Santa Barbara community is at 10:00 AM PT on Sunday morning. The second weekly service is the 7:30 PM PT Wednesday Testimony Meeting. The church services are conducted by elected Readers from within the congregation.
Both services include readings from our Pastor, which are the two key books of our religion, the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. The church services also include hymn singing and prayer. Everyone is welcome to attend. On Sundays, the church service centers around a weekly Bible Lesson Sermon.
At Wednesday Testimony Meetings, the readings focus on a current issue and are followed by testimonies of healing, expressions of gratitude, and/or spiritual inspiration and insights from the congregation, resulting from the study of the Bible and Science and Health. Christian Science Sunday School for children and teenagers (ages 3 through 19) is held at 10 AM. Children and teens of all faiths and backgrounds are welcome.
The Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, the Beatitudes, and the healing power of God as witnessed throughout the Bible are foundational parts of the students’ journey in learning about their unbreakable relationship with God.
Sunday School classes also offer the opportunity for students to ask questions in a safe, non-judgmental space of biblical discovery. Besides our local Sunday School, information about resources and activities for youth can be found at ChristianScience.com.
During all our services, little ones are free to play, snuggle a teddy bear, or read a book in our Children’s Room while parents attend Sunday morning worship service or the Wednesday evening Testimony Meeting. Depending on the need, at least two qualified church members attend to your infant’s or toddler’s needs during this time.
One of the most important things we offer is prayer, not just for ourselves and our church, but for the community. Christian Science teaches that even more than a petition, prayer is a heartfelt response and growing understanding of what God is revealing to all of us as His children, made in His image, as the Bible tells us in Genesis 1. Prayer then helps to better see the divine Truth of God that shines the light of Christ in individual lives and on community issues.
Prayer moves, elevates, and changes our state of thought, enabling us to see how God’s vast love is a present help to meet community needs. Prayer brings new inspiration, which leads to new ideas. For example, we have been persistently praying with the community regarding the complex issue of the unhoused.
Q: Could you share a story or two about individuals whose lives have been positively impacted by your organization?
A: The church has a long history of supporting its community. In the 1925 Earthquake, it opened the doors of its previous edifice downtown to other congregations whose churches were impacted by the earthquake. More recently, during the mud flows in Santa Barbara, a private school in Montecito, Crane School, could not continue to hold classes on its campus.
We offered our Sunday School so they could continue to hold classes during the week. The church sponsored a Christian Science lecture in the local jail. One person in the jail was introduced to Christian Science during the lecture and has testified to how Christian Science has helped in different areas of his life in jail.
He has read Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy multiple times and is helping others in jail discover the healing Christ he has experienced and the truth of Christ’s teachings he is learning. One church member shared the following experience at a Wednesday evening service.
“Christian Science was a rock to stand on during my financial management career. God’s Love and supply were evident in transformative ways. I was a young entrepreneur, having launched my own financial advisory business. I had four wonderful clients, but needed more of them to stay in business. I didn’t advertise, so not many people knew I was in this line of work. I decided to phone a Christian Science practitioner who agreed to pray for me.”
“She encouraged me to dig deeper into understanding the true meanings of the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s profound writings on the healing progress that results from drawing closer to God. After a few months, I felt my thought gradually shift into a more spiritual mode and my fear dissipated. I realized that God, divine Love, was truly caring for all my needs, both spiritual and practical.”
“I prayed with Mrs. Eddy’s statement, which uses Mind with a capital ‘M’ as a synonym for God: ‘Adhesion, cohesion, and attraction are properties of Mind.’ This meant to me that there was a law of supply and demand at work in my experience, governing relationships and meeting the demands of each individual’s needs in a harmonious, uniquely right way, specific to each one’s situation.”
“During this period of spiritual digging, I began to let go of selfish motives focused on money while I grasped that my real purpose in life was to be of service to others, whether in this line of work or otherwise. Soon my phone began to ring: A woman I knew said she’d been trying to track down my phone number (as I’d moved to another state) and she was eagerly seeking my professional skills in managing her family’s sizable portfolios.”
“My few existing clients and several friends began referring other clients to me, one after another. My clients were pleased with portfolio performance, often well above market averages, and so it was a win-win for clients and me. In a few years, I had 35 wonderful clients.”
“Thinking back on this, I realize that God, divine Love, was meeting human needs – those of clients as well as mine. It was natural, divine evidence of God’s goodness. I realized, too, it was really God’s business, not my own, and when I ‘let go and let God,’ meaningful progress naturally took place.”
Q: How do you share your nonprofit’s impact and updates with the public?
A: At Wednesday Testimony Meetings, attendees spontaneously share how God has impacted their lives as part of the meeting each week. In the Reading Room are weekly and monthly periodicals dating back over a century that have verified testimonials of healing in each periodical, as well as inspiring articles written by fellow Christian Scientists that share the impact their study of the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy have had on their lives and in their prayers for the world.
The Reading Room also offers The Christian Science Monitor, an international Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper that is known for having an impact on the world through balanced and hope-filled news coverage. Christian Scientists often read this newspaper not only to be informed but to pray for the world. The Reading Room includes a window display that stays current, thematic, and offers spiritual ideas and resources for the community.
Online Christian Science lectures share the impact Christian Science has on our lives.. We are part of a broader community of the Christian Science churches that offer radio podcasts. For example, you can listen to Prayer that Heals offerings of inspiration at (323) 805-8700 and visit the Prayer that Heals website. We have a church website to share the impact Christian Science has had on our lives.
Church members strive to live the inspiration they are receiving and the healing effect of that inspiration. We humbly wish to genuinely live our Christianity in a way that will bless and help others. To commemorate our church’s 100-year anniversary, we published a book containing some of the documented healings of our members.
Q: Can you share a fun fact or little-known detail about your nonprofit that would surprise people?
A: The church was built in the middle of the Great Depression, providing work for many local crafts persons. The designer of the church tried to replicate the Byzantine design, the look of Constantine’s church.
One church member shared, “We have these beautiful stained-glass windows. On Sundays, the light is flowing in, and we see these beautiful images. During Wednesday night Testimony Meetings, the light flows out to the community from those stained-glass windows. To me, this symbolizes how we are fed on Sundays with our Bible Lesson Sermon, and we testify to how we are seeing the evidence of God’s help in our lives to feed others on Wednesday night.”
We also have some huge stuffed animals in our Sunday School!
Q: How do you allocate your funding to support your mission?
A: The church is entirely self-funded and democratically run. There is a lot of prayer and thoughtful consideration that goes into the financial management of how the church functions in the community and more broadly in the region.
Donations go toward the mission of the church, such as services, lectures, and the Reading Room — all open to the public, and salaries of some of the church workers, such as the Readers who conduct the church services, Reading Room librarian, and organist and soloist, and toward maintaining the church building, Sunday School, Reading Room and landscaping. The landmark church building and property provide not only a beautiful environment for church services but also provide a park setting in the community used by local residents.
It is a peaceful presence and gathering place that attracts a lot of people, as there is always someone around, including local workers having lunch. So many have commented on how they feel the calmness of the sanctuary. We also hear comments by visitors to our Reading Room, that it is a calming presence, an oasis in the community.
Q: How can people get involved with your nonprofit or volunteer?
A: Use the Reading Room, a quiet oasis for learning, prayer and study, and check out or purchase books or other materials to learn more about Christian Science. Send your children, grandchildren, neighbor children and their friends to our Sunday School. Attend Sunday and Wednesday services.
Volunteer when we have a “Tom Sawyers” day, which is when we have church members and friends come to the church properties and do projects to help maintain the buildings and properties. Attend our lectures. Read and study Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, which you can obtain at the Reading Room. Join one of our reading groups.
To us, church supports us in our individual growth and understanding of God, and collectively in reaching out to our community and healing, sharing each other’s inspiration, and walking the path together while honoring one’s individual conscience.
The community is a part of that process. Everyone is welcome to join us in praying with other attendees and supporting each other’s spiritual growth.
Click here to support First Church of Christ, Scientist mission to organize a church designed to commemorate the word and works of Jesus Christ.
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