Suppose you are interviewing new applicants for membership in your branch church. When you sit face to face with someone braced for questions about his or her spiritual stance, you can lean on the steadying guidance Mary Baker Eddy gives in a letter written to her Church about "receiving or dismissing candidates" for membership. She states: "I cannot be the conscience for this church; but if I were, I would gather every reformed mortal that desired to come, into its fold, and counsel and help him to walk in the footsteps of His [God's] flock. I feel sure that as Christian Scientists you will act, relative to this matter, up to your highest understanding of justice and mercy." Miscellaneous Writings, p. 146
How can we bring out our "highest understanding of justice and mercy" during the interview? We're talking with one who, like us, is reforming character to align it with God, good. As we approach the occasion with the pure desire to act up to our highest understanding, the spiritual insight we need is immediate because we're relying completely on the Father Mind for leading and judgment. Then we begin to know and feel more of what Christ Jesus felt when he said, "If I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me." John 8:16 Such reliance subordinates personal sense and keeps thought fixed on divine Principle, God, whose perfect wisdom provides the spiritual standpoint so essential in estimating an applicant's qualifications for membership.
Each one who applies for membership in our branch church comes with a unique background and diverse relationships. Some applicants may be transferring from another branch Church of Christ, Scientist, bringing with them a background of long service. Some may be returning to membership after a period when they were not active in church. Others may be ecstatic newcomers to Christianly scientific healing. There may be those whose native countries and cultures are different from our own. Some may be scholarly; some just learning academics. There will be teenagers and grandparents, marrieds and singles.
