Branch Church Membership

Ella W. Hoag

Probably there are few, if any, Christian Scientists who unite with a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, who do not approach such membership with great expectation of good to be gained therefrom. They have been healed of disease through the gentle ministration of Christian Science; they have seen discord dissolved into its native nothingness; they have had a sense of lack replaced by an evidence of God's plenty; in various ways they have had proof that this new-old truth stands for all that is harmonious and right, for all that is true and loving. They therefore desire to unite themselves with the church which stands for such exemplification of the healing power of the Christ.

From all this they may have concluded that henceforth their lives and their experiences—especially so far as association with those of like faith is concerned—will never express anything but that which is heavenly in nature and activity. Perhaps they have come to believe that the uniting with a Christian Science church will be the beginning of a blissful experience wherein they will walk forward with the other members in complete agreement on all questions. Indeed, they would probably cry out in amazement were any one to suggest that any sense of disagreement can occur among a body of Christian Scientists.

What they have read and heard and felt of this wonderful Science has convinced them that since there is but one Mind and all its ideas are governed thereby, the logical conclusion must follow that there could be no room for disagreement. They are so sure that this perfect unity is already understood by them and by other Christian Scientists that they may even approach the first business meeting which it is their privilege to attend, with the fixed belief that if an election is to occur, the first ballot must of necessity elect unanimously those who are to be chosen to office; for, say they, would not any other result deny the truth of Christian Science?

When, instead, they find that frequently it may take many ballots to decide the election, they are often sadly puzzled. Right at this point they must begin to learn the most valuable lesson which Christian Science church membership teaches,—the lesson of trust in and reliance on God's government, on the omnipresent and omnipotent control of divine Mind. This same lesson must be learned and relearned by every member in our churches, times without number, until all human belief shall have yielded to Mind, before church organization shall have completely fulfilled its mission.

No one even touches Christian Science without glimpsing the fact that this one demonstration which he must compass is the demonstration of his own unity with the divine Mind. He also knows, if he faces the question honestly, that the only way this can be done is for him to recognize and relinquish all the beliefs in another mind. Now the Christian Science church affords the most marvelous opportunities for such demonstration. Here is where all may learn to prove the unreality of self-will, self-love, and self-justification, which Mrs. Eddy denominates in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 242) as "the adamant of error;" and then she goes on to say, "which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death."

Wise, indeed, is the Christian Scientist who gratefully accepts the opportunity thus afforded to demonstrate self-abnegation, and thanks God that he has become a member of the church wherein such demands for spiritual growth are presented. One human tendency which would claim to interfere with such true humility is that mortals are prone to lift up their own belief in perfection, and then attempt to measure every one else according to it. They are so apt to demand great things of their neighbor, forgetting all about their own shortcomings. Mrs. Eddy rebukes this pointedly in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 131), where she says, "Whoever challenges the errors of others and cherishes his own, can neither help himself nor others; he will be called a moral nuisance, a fungus, a microbe, a mouse gnawing at the vitals of humanity."

If each church member will but awaken to his own need of demonstrating unity with the divine Mind, he will win perfect faith in God's complete and all-powerful government. He will advance more or less rapidly on the way to this as he approaches participation in any church activity—be it business meeting, Sunday or Wednesday services, Reading Room attendance, Sunday school or distribution work—with the understanding that he is not to advance his own concepts of right, but is to stand humbly, patiently, trustfully, with the truth that God is able to and will cause His law to operate to His own glory.

Members who thus seek to rely wholly on divine Mind find themselves thinking, speaking, acting, more and more wisely, for selfishness will have given place to divinity; and each having demonstrated his unity with divine Mind, each will find himself at-one with his brothers. Then will the membership find themselves prepared for another Pentecostal Day when, like the disciples of old, they will be "all with one accord in one place."

Ella W. Hoag

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