A committee of a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, was reviewing the biography of a member of The Christian Science Board of Lectureship whom the church had invited to lecture for their community. A long list of church activities in which the lecturer had taken part was included. As the committee worked to prepare an introduction from this material, a member recalled that each lecturer's biography they had seen had included such a list.
On thinking further, the committee member said to himself, "The lecturers must consider branch church activities very important to their qualifications to heal and teach Christian Science. Otherwise they wouldn't list them. Perhaps church activities could be viewed as catalysts of spiritual growth and the branch church as a laboratory."
He had seen an important point: Active church membership is not incidental to an individual's spiritual growth. On the contrary, it stimulates, supports, and refines the spiritual metal of its members. And it can take one directly into the public practice of Christian Science.
