Q: As students of Christian Science we are to abide by the Church Manual by Mary Baker Eddy. An application for membership in The Mother Church is included in the Manual. Branch churches have their own applications, of course, but why do they have more requirements than The Mother Church application? Shouldn’t the branch church be a proving ground for our demonstration and not a way to exclude potential members?
—A reader in Virginia, US
A: It appears to me that The Mother Church application leaves the determination of the applicant’s readiness up to the endorsement of one person, the approver, who should be well acquainted with the applicant, and who is convinced that the individual is a believer in Christian Science (see Church Manual, p. 34). Then the countersigner, who is a teacher of Christian Science, in essence, endorses the approver.
By signing The Mother Church application an individual accepts the Tenets on pages 15 and 16 of the Church Manual, which implies belief in the Church’s teachings. That is a very specific commitment of individual responsibility.
