In the Spirit

ADDRESS: 635 High Drive

TELEPHONE: 494-3040

DENOMINATION: Christian Science

YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1930

SERVICE TIMES: Sunday church service and Sunday school from 10 to 11

a.m.; Testimony meeting from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. CHURCH LEADERS:

Instead of a minister, two members of the congregation are elected every

three years to serve as readers -- one reads from the Bible (King James

Version) and the other reads from “Science and Health With Key to the

Scriptures” by the founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy.

SIZE OF CONGREGATION: Attendance is not recorded.

MAKEUP OF CONGREGATION: Consists of a cross-section of all ages and

people from Fountain Valley to San Clemente in addition to Laguna Beach.

Everyone is welcome.

TYPE OF WORSHIP: Sunday services are for quiet, contemplative

listening of the sermon. Music consists of three hymns and a solo

accompanied by a pipe organ without choir. Wednesday meetings provide a

unique opportunity for the congregation to share testimonies of

inspiration and healing.

TYPE OF SERMON: The teachings of Christian Science are deeply rooted

in the Bible. Each Sunday, every Christian Science church around the

world reads the same Bible lesson of selected passages from the Bible and

“Science and Health.”

On Wednesdays, the reader for the meeting selects a relevant topic and

reads passages from the Bible and “Science and Health” for part of the

meeting. The rest of the meeting is set aside for individuals to give

gratitude for inspiration and healings based on their study of Christian

Science.

RECENT SERMONS: Love; man; Christ Jesus; reality; Are sin, disease and

death real?

JUNE SERMONS: God, the only cause and creator; God the preserver of

man; Is the universe, including man, evolved by atomic force?; Christian

Science.

DRESS: Casual to dress.

CHURCH PROGRAMS: Sunday school is for people up to age 20 to learn

about God, the Bible and science and health, and how to make Christian

Science a practical part of their everyday lives. The church offers

community public lectures on handling current issues through prayer and

provides a public Reading Room in downtown Laguna Beach at 284 Forest

Ave., for study and research of the Bible and Christian Science

literature.

MISSION STATEMENT: In 1879, Eddy founded the Church of Christ,

Scientist, “to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should

reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing.”

INTERESTING NOTES: The Christian Science Monitor is one of the

church’s forms of outreach to the world and recently the recipient of

another Pulitzer Prize.