Christian Science in the Greater Philadelphia Area

"Why Everyone is Needed" - A Talk sponsored by First Churches of Christ, Scientist, Allentown and Stroudsburg
2025-04-06 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Cedar Crest College, 100 College Drive, Allentown, PA, 18104
About this talk:
As we learn more about who we are–as God’s thoughtful, loved creation–our self-worth, purpose, physical health, and relationships are transformed. Finding this new sense of our connection to God helps us bring healing to difficult world problems like political divisions and social inequality. Each one of us is connected to God. No one is left out. James’s lecture discusses what our purpose is, where our worth comes from, and shares examples of how seeing ourselves and others as God sees us gives us a spiritual perspective that heals ourselves and our world.
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About our Speaker James Shepherd, CS:Member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship
God’s love is for everyone, and a Christian Science lecture is a perfect setting to learn about God’s love and the healing that it brings.
James has seen the healing effects of God’s love since he was a youngster, romping through the woods around his home with his three brothers. They had their share of scrapes and bruises which were quickly healed through prayer. On the rare occasions they felt sick, they relied on Christian Science for quick healings.
In high school his family moved to a ranch where they had cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, chickens, and turkeys. He graduated from college with a Bachelor’s degree in agriculture, but realized that serving as a Christian Science healer was the best way he could serve others. He left the ranch and took up the full-time work of helping others find healing through prayer. Thirty years later, he still loves this work as much as ever.
Over the years, James has enjoyed being active in many roles in his local Church of Christ, Scientist, and has worked at summer camps for Christian Scientists and their friends. He has also shared the message of Love’s transforming power in prison settings and youth detention centers. When his four children were little, he coached their sports programs. He finds other ways to help his community, such as by volunteering at a neighborhood church to help cook a free breakfast for those in need.
James loves spending time with his family and doing any outdoor activity. But his greatest joy will always be to find, and to help others find, a more tangible sense of God’s love for everyone and how that improves every aspect of our lives.

"Be Set Free - Freedom is yours when you know where to look for it" - A Talk sponsored by First Church of Christ, Scientist, Jenkintown
2025-04-26 10:00 - 11:00 | Abington Friends School Auditorium, 575 Washington Lane, Jenkintown, PA, United States
About this talk:
Circumstances often present what appear to be significant obstacles to living freely, something that everyone wants to do. Whatever it is that seems to stand between us and the full range of motion that we would like to have in our lives — it’s not so much the presenting impediment that is the problem — it’s not knowing how or where to access our God-given liberty.
To live a life of liberty, we have to find the nature and substance of liberty, which is spiritual, purposeful, unburdened, and given to all. To do that you have to know where to look, to the source of liberty — God, good itself, all-inclusive.
In this talk, we will examine liberty from a Biblical perspective; and see how real people today find their freedom from all kinds of physical, emotional and circumstantial restrictions that seem clearly beyond their control so that they may Be Set Free.
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About our Speaker Nicole Virgil, CS:Member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship
Nicole’s father was a free-lance church organist, and her parents attended services at many different Christian churches in New England. Her mom had been on a years-long search to find out how to practice Christian healing just as Jesus did, and when she started attending Christian Science church services, she found what she was looking for. As a result, Nicole was raised in Christian Science, and developed a deep desire for an intimate relationship with God.
Nicole studied Christian Science with her mom and music with her dad, and found that each discipline complemented the other. Christian Science healed performance anxiety, while learning music honed the skills she needed for spiritual practice — skills such as intuition, listening, patience and diligence. Throughout her life, Christian Science and music have always overlapped: after studying opera at music school, she took her one-woman opera review program (That Can’t Be Opera!) on the road, educating audiences about opera by singing Mozart, Puccini, and Menotti. Christian Science guided her through this entrepreneurial endeavor, just as it led her to start soloing in churches as a teenager (which is something she still loves to do!) — Nicole eventually married, started a family with her husband, and entered the public practice of Christian Science.
Today Nicole enjoys raising children, gardening, soloing in church, and witnessing the healing effect of Christian Science.
To get started working with Nicole, go to https://www.nicolevirgil.com/host-a-lecture.

"Never Too Late To Experience Freedom" - A Talk sponsored by First Church of Christ, Scientist, Wilmington DE
2025-04-26 11:00 - 12:00 | Woodlawn Room Doubletree Hotel, 4727 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE, 19803, United States
About this talk:
The little bird in my hand was free to fly away. We’d banded him as part of an Audubon Society effort and the time had come for his release. But even when I opened my hand to let him go, he didn’t budge. What did he need? He just needed a little lift. When I gave him even the tiniest nudge upward, off he flew. Free!
What is it that gives this kind of lift to our lives? Good news, for one thing. And what better news than the promise that health and freedom can be ours today. Yes, today!
My lecture traces the origins of this good news to Christ Jesus’ ministry, and then explores how the discovery of a 19th-century woman named Mary Baker Eddy—who found freedom from chronic illness and other struggles in her own life—shows the provable relevance of Jesus’ ministry in our lives today. What she discovered through this study she called Christian Science—a view of God and the universe that uplifts our thoughts, changes our perspective to a spiritual viewpoint, and heals.
And it lifts all of us, and can heal all of us. I’ll share the way Christian Science has brought healing to my own life, rescuing me from a troubling situation with my teenage daughter, and freeing me from the effects of an accident, as well as examples of how it has helped others from different walks of life. The common thread through these experiences is the way a clearer view of the reality of our God-given wholeness also releases us from burdens in our lives and causes us to soar. Free!
Click here to learn more about the branch church sponsoring important event.

About our Speaker Patricia Cohan Woodard, CS:Member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship
Patty discovered Christian Science as an adolescent and soon thereafter experienced the complete healing of a broken arm through Christian Science treatment, to the amazement of her mother, a registered nurse.
After working in New York City in the fashion business, Patty realized she wanted to help children learn how to learn. So she returned to school and earned a Masters of Arts in Teaching. This desire to help others and her love of Christian Science impelled her to set time aside to pray for others. While a mother of two children, she became a full-time Christian Science practitioner, and has pursued a lifelong career of learning about God, sharing Truth, and witnessing God’s love for mankind.
Patty has lived in six states in the U.S. and twice in São Paulo, Brazil, where she became fluent in Portuguese. Each new culture and environment has taught her more about God, universal Love, and how God’s goodness is reflected by all people. These new views have opened up wonderful opportunities to interact with people from a wide variety of cultural and economic backgrounds, faiths, and age groups. In Brazil, Patty helped start up an award-winning social program that taught mothers living in a favela (slum) how to make beautiful handmade quilts for resale, the income from which put shoes on their childrens’ feet and gave these women a new sense of self-worth.
Underlying all of her experiences is the desire to bring healing to mankind, to show each individual their God-given freedom, their real heritage, their right to happiness and health, and their inherent ability to feel God’s love.
Today, Patty resides in Dallas, Texas, where she nurtures her healing practice as well as an active in prison ministry. While serving on the Board of Lectureship, she has given lectures at food pantries, museums, libraries, community centers, churches, as well as at local, state, and federal prisons.
