Church of Christ, Scientist
| Church of Christ, Scientist | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Christian |
| Region | United States |
| Founder | Mary Baker Eddy |
| Origin | 1879 Boston, Massachusetts, USA |
| Congregations | approximately 1,000 worldwide (900 in the U.S.) |
| Members | approximately 85,000 worldwide |
The Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Mary Baker Eddy, author of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, and founder of Christian Science. The church was founded "to commemorate the word and works of [Christ Jesus]" and "reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing". Sunday services are held throughout the year and weekly testimony meetings are held on Wednesday evenings, where following brief readings from the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, those in attendance are invited to give testimonies of healing brought about through Christian Science prayer.
In the early decades of the 20th century, Christian Science churches sprang up in communities around the world, though in the last several decades of that century, there was a marked decline in membership, except in Africa, where there has been growth. Headquartered in Boston, the church has a worldwide membership of about 85,000.
The church was incorporated by Mary Baker Eddy in 1879 following a claimed personal healing in 1866, which she said resulted from reading the Bible. The Bible and Eddy's textbook on Christian healing, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, are together the church's key doctrinal sources and have been ordained as the church's "dual impersonal pastor".
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, is widely known for its publications, especially The Christian Science Monitor, a weekly newspaper published internationally in print and online. The seal of Christian Science is a cross and crown with the words, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons," and is a registered trademark of the church.
The Church has collected over 50,000 testimonies of incidents that it considers healing through Christian Science treatment alone. While most of these testimonies represent ailments neither diagnosed nor treated by medical professionals, the Church requires three other people to vouch for any testimony published in its official organ, the Christian Science Journal; verifiers say that they witnessed the healing or know the testifier well.
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