The new member's face glowed as the other church members welcomed her. It was the first time she had joined a branch Church of Christ, Scientist. It was an occasion she would always remember. Only this once would she be a member for the first time.
As we wait for our turn to welcome a new member, our thoughts naturally turn back to the time we too had first joined a branch church. It had been a day to treasure—the culmination of our study, seeking to understand, yielding, growing. Joining a branch church was one of the fruits of our love for Christian Science—a love that had become a desire to be a part of and to serve the Christian Science movement in the best way we could.
As this new member had probably done, we had turned to God seeking direction and had taken what seemed to be the right next step. We had decided to join the Church of Christ, Scientist. We knew that for some this was the first time they had joined any kind of church at all. But no doubt these other new members had asked themselves as we had asked ourselves just what it really meant to join The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, or a local branch church. What was Church really all about?
