Churches: The Apostolic Few

They used to joke in Lexington, Mass., that new residents didn't need to join a country club—they already had the Hancock Congregational Church. The gibe was unjust, but for a time it almost seemed as if Sunday worship services were lost in a crowded weekly calendar of dances, card parties, and other social affairs. Then, in 1948, a young engineer named Albert Wilson persuaded his new minister at Hancock, the Rev. Roy Pearson, to support a group of couples who would gather periodically for the study of Scripture and the mutual exploration...