My family and I attended the LDS church years ago and stopped because of an issue with the ward we were attending. I was baptized into the church when I was 8. I was 12 when my family and I left. I have since accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior when attending a non-denomiational church in the same city around 4 years later. I am now 33 and live across the country. The LDS church has no idea where I am, but I know there is still some type of authority they hold over me even though I have not attended in 21 years. I pondered the thought of resigning and leaving for years, but never did so, but now I am starting the procedure of resigning. I realize that I needed to take this action based on no outside influence and all on my own.

I have seen several sites. Some say to contact the local bishop and others say to only send a letter to the records office. Which way is the fastest to resign my membership and remove my name? There's a lot of information out there and I want to make sure I proceed with the right course of action.

Thank you for your help.

Russell

I reread some of the site and saw clear instruction.

I have merged two sample letters and am planning on sending this letter out tomorrow morning.

Hi Russell. Welcome.

Although I sent my initial letter to Salt Lake, they just sent it right back to me, telling me that it was a local matter. So I still ended up going through the Bishop.

I don't see you having any problems, since you were never really involved with the Church as an adult, and have no intention of ever being involved again. It's not like they're losing tithing money with you resigning, so they wouldn't fight so hard to try and keep you.

You could go to the local Bishop and tell him that you understand that you need him to fill out some papers, explain the situation, and let him send them to Salt Lake. You could still send a letter to Salt Lake, and say in the letter that paperwork from the Bishop will be following shortly.

_________________
"A mind stretched by a new idea can never go back to its original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Good luck, Russell.
The CJCLDS has no authority over you except that with which you agree to let them have.
If you grant them "spiritual authority" or "eccelsiastical authority", then you will be pressed to follow eccelsiastical policies, or follow that church's idea of how to express your spirit. (no pun intended here)

They will, however, get to call you their own member when they tell people how many Mormons there are in the world. You are obviously not a Mormon, so by not having your name "officially" removed from the membership roles, you are in effect allowing them to lie about their membership numbers.

Also, based on my own experience, and those experiences of a number of others, no matter how you feel, once a person's name is removed from the membership records, they generally feel a new level of relief, joy, happiness, freedom.

Keep us posted if you would.....

Thanks.
I sent the letter in on the 1st and received a notice it was delivered on the 5th. So it would seem I am no longer considered under their authority. All I need to do now is wait for their process.

On Feburary 12th, I received a letter from Statistical records saying they have received my letter and that it was being forwarded to the ward that is in my area.

Today I received a letter from the bishop in my area stating that my request was granted.

This took a total of 14 days. I was expecting 4 months. I'm a bit surprised seeing how long I've seen others in here take 4 months+.

Wow. Congrats. You're lucky. It took me more like 5 months. Maybe they're getting so many requests that they're getting good at handling them. One could only hope anyway.

_________________
"A mind stretched by a new idea can never go back to its original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Boy that is fast! Congratulations!

_________________
"I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.'
- George W Bush

"Forget everything that I have said . . . ." Bruce R. McConkie, August 18, 1978

Thanks, I received my final letter today and I wanted to post it on here.

This was indeed fast.



Thanks for the encouragment everyone.

Russ

Holy cow, that was fast. Congrats!

_________________
"A mind stretched by a new idea can never go back to its original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

I love the way their letterhead spells "Statistical."

LOL

They should take some of the tithing money they extorted from so many millions of Morgbots and print up some new stationery!

_________________
Just call me Julian the Apostate - I am OUT!

"If you must pay to get into Heaven, it's not the Heaven for you."
"I don't know that we teach that."

I'll have to look for my get out of jail letter and compare Greg Dodge's signature to yours. I wonder if he's using an autopen these days for his entire department.

_________________
Read: MormonCurtain. Resign: MormonResignation. Recover: ExMormonForums.

Infymus, is Greg Dodge even there anymore? I was sure I had read somewhere that he was no longer with Member Records.

_________________
Just call me Julian the Apostate - I am OUT!

"If you must pay to get into Heaven, it's not the Heaven for you."
"I don't know that we teach that."

My letter is an exact duplicate of the one posted here by Russ. Auto pen for sure.

_________________
Ask questions and Family is no longer forever and more often not even for time.
"I don't know that we teach that...I don't know that we emphasize that!"

Prolly now in the back, fired and got rehired as an auto-pen repairman. Heh-heh.

Too much airtime with the popular apostate forums and recovery boards.

_________________
God of Poly-Folly Folly

{ If you believe in things that you don't understand, then you suffer ~ Stevie Wonder }
.................. www.­tudou.­com/­programs/­view/­7Q0q-­Vv8sHQ/
.............. http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/7Q0q-Vv8sHQ/
.................. www.tudou.com/programs/view/7Q0q-Vv8sHQ/


God of Poly-Folly Folly