[As published in the Christian Science Sentinel, January 20, 1940]
Individuals comprising a committee for interviewing applicants for church membership should be Christian Scientists of wise discernment, of unprejudiced thought and Christlike compassion. Not infrequently the mental attitude of an admission committee will either forward or retard the growth of a Christian Science church or society. If the right qualities of thought are present on the committee, the interview will bless both the committee and those interviewed. Because of what the committee understand of God and the real man, any sense of superiority or inferiority should fade away; for, in the words of our Leader, "When we are willing to help and to be helped, divine aid is near" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 166). In this loving atmosphere any sense of fear or timidity on the part of the applicant will be disarmed, and he will express himself naturally and freely.
For the most part applicants for membership are but babes in Christ, ready to drink in "the sweet revealings of a new and more spiritual Life and Love," as our Leader puts it onpages 15 and 16 of "Miscellaneous Writings." But whether the applicant knows much or little of Christian Science, that much or little should glow with new meaning for him as a result of his interview.
