The church was founded "to commemorate the word and works of Christ Jesus" and "reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing".

[5] The First Church of Christ, Scientist publishes the weekly newspaper The Christian Science Monitor in print and online.

When they have what the church regards as a record of healing, they may submit their names for publication in the directory of practitioners and teachers in the Christian Science Journal.

[14] The Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity is housed in an 11-story structure originally built for The Christian Science Publishing Society.

The first significant effort was to create a weekly half-hour syndicated television program, The Christian Science Monitor Reports.

In late 1993, a group of Christian Scientists filed suit against the Board of Directors, alleging a willful disregard for the Manual of The Mother Church in its financial dealings.

The suit was thrown out by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in 1997, but a lingering discontent with the church's financial matters persists to this day.

Church official Philip G. Davis noted that the administration and Colonnade buildings had not been fully used for many years and that vacancy increased after staff reductions in 2004.

The church posted an $8 million financial loss in fiscal 2003, and in 2004 cut 125 jobs, a quarter of the staff, at the Christian Science Monitor.

[27] However, during the 1980s and 1990s in the United States, a number of Christian Scientist parents whose children died from lack of access to medical treatment were the subject of considerable controversy and were charged with manslaughter or even murder, but the outcomes of the cases were inconsistent.