How much do you know about the Center for Positive Living? Is it a Christian....New Age.....Positive Thinking? Read below to learn about this faith community that provides a space for all who seek a deeper relationship with God. The Center for Positive Living is a community of like minded people who believe in Unity and Oneness. They believe, "Change Your Thinking and the World Around You Changes."

Rev. Christy Snow:

The Center for Positive Living (CPL) has been in Charlotte for 30 years. CPL is an ecumenical spiritual community dedicated to awakening and celebrating the divine nature of all beings through teaching and being a living example of the Science of Mind.

The Science of Mind is a philosophy and way of life that was founded on the writings of Dr. Ernest Holmes. This path embraces all and rejects none. “Let us begin to accept today more good than we experienced yesterday, and to know that we shall reap a harvest of fulfilled desires.” Ernest Holmes

Bio: Christy has been a folk musician since college. In 1999 she quit her job in corporate America. A woman called Christy and asked to come and sing in a church. Christy responded, “I don’t do church and organized religion is not for me.” Then we became best friends! Finally she convinced me to come and sing for a paycheck. From the first day I showed up I felt nothing but love. So I kept coming back and became the music director and eventually the co-pastor.

I liked that we didn’t put any other faiths down (even though I did when I first went there) and that we looked for God in all faiths and in everything. It doesn’t mean we don’t have bad things happen but rather that we choose to think about even bad things in positive ways.

Science has proven that prayer changes things. Science also has proven that our thoughts change things. I don’t always feel positive but I believe in thinking positive.

Einstein said that everything is energy. Therefore our thoughts, whether positive or negative, are energy. When someone believes something negative will happen and it does, we think, “see, I told you so.” CPL believes that negative thoughts help cause negative things to happen. So when something bad happens, we say, “this, too, is good and this, too, is God and I will find the blessing.”

We think we have the constant ability to be in contact with God. We love being a member congregation of Mecklenburg Ministries because of how you embrace God in all people and in every faith.

Prayer for us is like the law of gravity. If I pray it will “work” – positively and negatively. Life is like an equation, if we give good will we will get good will in return.

Bio: I am a recovering drug addict and alcoholic of 14 years. I was 5 years old when I had my first drink. One night I ended on the floor with a gun in my hand. As I lay there, a whisper grew in my heart that I believe was divine intervention – it whispered, “what would your committing suicide do to my mother who I loved so much?” Then came the thought, what would this do to God?

If anyone 14 years ago would have told me I would be a minister one day I would have fallen down laughing! But now I know that everyone can have a profound relationship with God. No matter who you are or where you’ve come from, you are welcome at CPL. We want to be a place where everyone can come to heal and to be loved. I remember how it feels to be lost in the desert….

We teach the community about all religions. We talk about Christianity and Bahai and Sufism and Buddhism. We talk about how we are all on different paths but that the destination is the same for us all: God. One of the best parts of ministry is watching people come into a community broken and see them become whole. I’m always crying during service or whenever I hear about people changing.

Christy was raised in the Baptist faith and she teaches from that foundation. I sort of had a Catholic background. I have a rosary but don’t know how to use it. But now I want to know more about Catholicism and how to use a rosary. I want to understand about all of the other faiths and where we fit in the tapestry.

There is a Buddhist story about how the best way to wash vegetables is not to clean them one at a time. Rather put them all into a pot of water together and as they bump into each other, they also clean each other. I think it is the same with people. We are all from different backgrounds and faiths and as we bump into one another, we clean one another.

Questions and answers

I am a self ascribed cynic and negative thinker so what would be the starting point for me, a beginner? If you took one idea, that God is in everything, and act on it, it will change you. Just because we act less than positively doesn’t mean it is the truth.

What is your worship like? Music is very important. We use music to get the message in the heart of people. In some ways, it is like a traditional Christian service with an opening and closing prayer, music, talk, announcements – and of course, we pass the collection plate.

What do you believe about Jesus? We believe Jesus is the way to aspire to be. However, we look to Mohammad and Native American faith and Sufism, etc.

How do you become a minister? The path is through teachers, similar to the Buddhist faith, rather than through seminaries. There are classes and then exams and a process to become ordained.

What is evil? Evil is a misuse of our abilities – our heart and mind. We don’t think evil has control over us but that we give up our control to the wrong things. For instance, 9/11 was horrible and devestating. We can focus on that horror and tragedy or we can chose to focus on all the good that came out of it. We chose to focus on the good.

For more information about The Center for Positive Living, go to their website: www.cplcharlotte.com

Other information from their website:

"Science of mind bears the same relation to religion that natural science bears to the laws of nature. It is a science of mental and spiritual phenomena, and as such it appeals to adherents of all religious beliefs, as well as to those who have no particular religious conviction; it appeals to all students of life." ~ Ernest Holmes

What Is Religious Science?

There is a power for good in the universe that is available to everyone. Religious Science is a way of life and thinking that helps people realize their true nature and individual goals in life. Very simply, we believe that the universe is fundamentally spiritual-- it has intelligence, purpose, beauty and order. Whether we call it God, nature, spirit, energy or universal intelligence, we believe this universal intelligence is within us as well as around us, and that we are conscious of it.

Our beliefs are in harmony with the basic tenets of all the world's great religions and the members of our community come from a wide variety of spiritual traditions.

Religious Science is not a closed system of thought but rather a teaching that encourages continual questioning and truth seeking for each individual. It grows continually as humankind evolves, drawing on the frontiers of knowledge as well as the wisdom of the ages. It can be approached as a science, a philosophy and a religion.

"Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found A truth.' Say not, 'I have found the path of the soul.' Say rather, 'I have met the soul walking upon my path.' For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals." ~Kahlil Gibran

Rev. Renee Leboa – We also believe every thought is a prayer. Worry is a prayer. Vengeance is a prayer. Panic is a prayer. So we are very conscious of our thoughts. We believe that Jesus said to turn the other cheek not so that the other cheek would be slapped but so that a person might change. So if you are feeling vengeance in your heart, turn to love. If you are feeling anger, turn to forgiveness.