De jaarlijkse bijeenkomst

afbeelding met de tekst: A message from the Clerk of The Mother Church

Dear fellow members and friends,

We warmly invite you to Annual Meeting 2017! Join us in Boston or online as part of our worldwide church family. Below you will find a message from the Christian Science Board of Directors. There is also an invitation video with this year’s Chair, Allison W. Phinney, sharing some thoughts on the theme of the meeting.

Warmly,
Suzanne Riedel
Clerk of The Mother Church
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Dear Church family,

It’s time to be thinking ahead to this year’s Annual Meeting, and we can’t help being inspired by the prospect. We have felt a strong spiritual impetus from each of the recent Annual Meetings. Your wholehearted participation and support have contributed greatly to moving our Church forward with renewed spirit. The outcome has been new steps that are now visibly strengthening our Cause.

As you recall, some recent themes have been “A spiritual foundation of Christ-healing,” and then, “ ‘A spiritual foundation of Christ-healing’—continuing to build.” Last year we looked squarely at our Church’s mission of “healing and saving the world” (Mary Baker Eddy, Church Manual, p. 19). And this year we’ll be thinking together about that which enables all of us to act in response to the unique call to this greatest of all causes. Our theme is “Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life.”

Those words are found in the chapter “Footsteps of Truth” in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (p. 249). They remind us that whatever the human steps we are led to take, they are not taken because of human will or personal ability but are truly footsteps impelled by Truth itself. As Mrs. Eddy said, “Every step of progress is a step more spiritual” (The People’s Idea of God, p. 1).

So, whether we’re witnessing (as we are) a greatly increased number of visitors to the Plaza with a new openness to hearing about Christian Science, or whether we’re seeing (as we are) the leavening of human thought that brings ever stronger demands for just treatment of all the members of human society, we know it is Spirit, the divine influence and energy, that is touching the heart of humanity.

At Annual Meeting this year, we look forward to sharing with you some of the many examples of awakening going on today in regard to the sheer practicality of Christian Science healing. Plans are underway for an interactive panel and audience discussion on the practice. We’ll also be discussing fresh views of the year-round potential of Christian Science associations of students. And we’ll have a session on new forward steps for The Christian Science Monitorand how we can more closely rally to support its significant place and power in a world that has a very real hunger for healing solutions.

To continue spiritual building in these times, the fidelity of the lives of Christian Scientists is certainly going to be required. We think you’ll enjoy the spiritual vision and straightforward talk of the editorial entitled “Let the energy of Spirit fill the Church” in the March issue of The Christian Science Journal.

We so greatly value the devotion of all the members of our Church family, and we look forward to being together in person and online at Annual Meeting 2017.

With deepest gratitude for your love and unity,

The CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BOARD of DIRECTORS
Robin Hoagland, Allison W. Phinney, Scott Preller, Margaret Rogers, Lyle Young

Annual Meeting 2017 Events

Saturday, June 3
2:00–3:30 p.m.
Practice that truly heals
The ever-new energy for the Christian Science movement flows from our practice of Christ-healing. In this session, members share how they began a public practice and continue in this work that is most essential to the transformation and salvation of the world.

Saturday, June 3
7:00–8:30 p.m.
The Christian Science Monitor: uplifting the spirit of humanity
On the subject of feeling this energy, there’s a lot to talk about with The Christian Science Monitor. With a new direction and format for the Monitor, we’ll explore how vital each member is to its success.

Sunday, June 4
1:30–3:00 p.m.
Christian Science Associations: a force for good
Dive deeper with us into how Christian Scientists come together as ongoing Association families that invigorate our Cause and bring healing to humanity.

Monday, June 5
1:00–3:00 p.m.
Annual Meeting of The Mother Church
“Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life ... .”
— Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 249

Mededeling van het Bestuur.

Dear Church Family,

We’d like to share with you the following message.

Suzanne Riedel
Clerk of The Mother Church

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Dear Fellow Members and Friends,

With great gratitude for the continuity of good, the Christian Science Board of Directors extends heartfelt thanks to Lyle Young, C.S.B., who will be stepping off the Board at the end of April to return to his loved home base in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. On May 1, we will welcome Richard Evans, C.S.B., to serve on the Board.

Lyle’s contribution to the Board and our Church over the past six years as Director, and his service as Clerk from 2013 to 2015, has had a worldwide impact. His pure and buoyant spirit, his care for the global family, and in particular his knowledge of the Christian Science fields in Latin America, Africa, and parts of Europe, have greatly benefited The Mother Church. We look forward to the ways he will continue to serve the Movement through his metaphysical clarity, genuine love, and multilingual facility.

After joining The Mother Church in 1984, Lyle entered the public practice of Christian Science in 1987, and became a Christian Science teacher in 1991. He has served as Committee on Publication for Ontario and Canada, First Reader of The Mother Church, and Christian Science lecturer, in addition to writing extensively for Church periodicals. We are also very grateful to his wife Elisabeth, who is deeply devoted to Church and has selflessly and cheerfully supported Lyle’s work.

Lyle reflects that, “After nine years of constant travel as Committee on Publication, four years of worldwide travel as a lecturer, and nine years serving as an Officer of The Mother Church, returning to my first calling of the public practice and to teaching will be a most welcome opportunity for renewal and rededication.”

We are also delighted that Rich Evans has agreed to step on to the Board on May 1. Rich came to The Mother Church in 2015 to assume the responsibilities of the Manager of Committees on Publication. He has brought great grace and metaphysical strength to this work. Prior to his full-time commitment to practicing and teaching Christian Science, Rich practiced law and was an executive officer in several global corporations. Throughout his life, his interest in diverse cultures has been evident in his early Peace Corps service in the Philippines and in many of his business career assignments. He and his wife, Blythe, who is also a Journal-listed practitioner, have actively engaged in the Boston community since moving here from Arizona, where Rich served as the state’s Committee on Publication.

Rich comments, “I’m grateful to serve the Church in this new way, and I leave the Committee on Publication with unbounded appreciation for the individuals with whom I was so fortunate to work and for the opportunity to learn more about the Committee’s true purpose, forged wisely in our Church Manual. What wonderful preparation it has been for joining the Board of Directors, whose example of modesty and real affection in serving the Cause of Christian Science, I have grown to know. It is with much joy, expectation of God’s loving guidance, and desire to help fulfill His plan, that I step into this next opportunity in unity with my fellow Directors.”

An announcement about the new Manager of Committees on Publication will follow in coming weeks. We join all of you in thanking God for guiding every progressive step of the Cause of Christian Science.

With love,

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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