The organization of churches is just now filling a large place in the thought of Scientists. On the morning of March 5, when at the Massachusetts Metaphysical College— the only Metaphysical College in America,— our Teacher met her primary class for the usual conversational, leave-taking exercise, questions on this and collateral subjects were brought up and answered, a report of which will be timely.
Brother E. R. Hardy, of Buffalo, inquired as to the reception of members from other churches by a pastor who, like himself, was not an ordained pastor.
The reply was: "The ordination of the pastor is not an essential to the reception of members from other churches, or of new members. The old membership ceases when the new begins. The pastor is not the church; it is the church that they come into, and that does not depend on the pastor. You are delegated by the church to perform this duty, and your action has as much validity as the action of a chairman or moderator of any meeting, who is appointed pro tem. The person, any person, so delegated can receive new members just as effectively as an ordained pastor."
