Christian Science (the Church of Christ, Scientist)

Movement·Founded 1879 CE·The church does not publish membership figures and is forbidden to by its own Manual, Article VIII, Section 28. Independent estimates for the late twentieth century range from under 100,000 to several hundred thousand and are not reconcilable. What can be counted is public: practitioners and teachers listed in the Christian Science Journal in the United States fell from 4,965 in January 1971 to fewer than a thousand, and branch churches from roughly 1,800 to about 1,000.

Judaism → Christianity → Catholicism → Protestantism → Christian Science (the Church of Christ, Scientist)

The First Church of Christ, ScientistThe recordCHILD — Children's Healthcare Is a Legal Duty (archive)

Branch
Overview Belief 3How to Live 1Practice 1Stories & Scripture 1Community 1 You × Christian Science (the Church of Christ, Scientist) Discussion

Rites & Ritual

what its people do — and when All 1 →
Weekly
No preacher — the books are the pastor. In 1895 Eddy ordained the Bible and Science and Health as the pastor of the church and abolished personal preaching. Two elected Readers read a lesson assembled from citations in both books, on one of twenty-six rotating subjects, and every Christian Science church in the world hears exactly the same lesson that week. When Weekly — the Lesson-Sermon on Sunday, and testimony on Wednesday eveningWho The congregation, with two elected Readers Go deeper — context →

Numbers count Panfaith activity only — never real-world adherence.

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