BRIEFLY IN RELIGION

Armchair Ministries brings prayer home

Armchair Ministries, a non-denominational ministry, meets in a rotating venue of private homes, allowing participants to share in the process of creating community and interacting in the kind of message most relevant to their needs.

The brainchild of Laguna Beach minister Rev. Diane Wolcott Watson, pastor of the Center For Spiritual Living, Armchair Ministries sprang from a mix of her own preference for spiritual conversation “” and pragmatism.

“Laguna Beach is the archetypal seaside resort,” she said. “In the summer months people were generally more interested in days at the beach than attending church and so it was difficult to build up a steady community with the kind of audience we were trying to attract as a non-denominational New Thought church.”

New Thought is a mix of Christian principles merged with wisdoms of the ages and has among its influences American philosophers Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ernest Holmes, and Charles and Myrtle Fillmore.

In the absence of a podium, Watson began “preaching from an armchair,” introducing a wide range of topics which were then opened up for group discussion.

The Center For Spiritual Living also includes outreach ministries such as support groups for those returning to work after major illness and those seeking to overcome addictive patterns and behaviors that are standing in the way of their success. She has been achieving great results with her Smoking Release Program in which she uses spiritual counseling to raise the consciousness of smokers to a place where they lose their craving to smoke.

The group meets Sunday mornings at the homes of the congregants and everyone is welcome. To learn more, call Watson at (949) 715-0294 or visit www.laguna beach-cpl.org