"There was a lot of fussing going on in the Christian Science movement, and I think it was actually having an adverse impact on what we have always felt was our primary mission, which was to heal, to be good healers," said Nathan Talbot, one of the directors. Another director, Margaret Rogers, said, "There was this feeling that we had gone into a marketing phase and that we kind of lost our sense of the purity of our healing mission."

"At the time we didn't really recognize it as an answer to prayer, but in retrospect there's no question that it was God saying to us, it's OK to build, but you've got to build on basics at the most fundamental level of spiritual understanding," Black said.

Christian Science, founded by Eddy in Lynn in 1879, emphasizes healing through prayer. Its active members generally avoid most forms of medical treatment, although the church says individuals can make their own healthcare decisions.

Hughes said she experienced a physical healing shortly after the visit - an instantaneous recovery from a burn.

The directors said that their membership woes are not that different from those of multiple mainline Protestant denominations, which are also facing declines, and they said they see the influence of their denomination in society's gradual embrace of spiritual healing and mind-body medicine in multiple forms.

"If people understood the healing impact in every aspect of their lives, they could not wait to affiliate with it," Black said. "So we feel that an increase in membership is a very natural thing, and we look to see that happen. We're expectant."