Thegodthatfailed Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 Have any of you renounced your church membership since you deconverted? I abandoned the death cult about 4 years ago, but technically I am still a member of a Methodist church, before then being a member of various Baptist churches. I really don't see much point in "canceling" my membership, since I didn't attend very often anyway and don't know many members of that church. Not like I run into many members of it asking me where I have been, even though I live in a small town.(church has no more than 100 members) I know the pastor, but don't come into contact with him very much, so it seems pointless to me to bring up my deconversion, since I was never really involved in the first place. Do any of you have similar situations to share? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vomit Comet Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 Don't most churches just kind of let you lapse from the rolls if you haven't been around in, like... years and years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeptic Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 I was confirmed into the United Methodist Church when I was in 5th or 6th grade, but I'm not sure if I was considered a full member of the church or not. I think you had to take some other class as an adult to become a full member, which I never did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thegodthatfailed Posted April 26, 2009 Author Share Posted April 26, 2009 Don't most churches just kind of let you lapse from the rolls if you haven't been around in, like... years and years? I've been a member for almost 12 years and I am still on the rolls. Haven't attended but 1 time in the last 10 years or so. But, it is a small church, so they probably want to make the membership appear larger than it really is, even with lapsed members,etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noob Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 This is a something that has actually been on my mind. In the Church of Christ, if you do not attend regularly the elders will contact you and let you know that you are at risk of having your membership revoked. I’m not exactly sure of the sequence of events or the terminology, but they will not just ignore an absence. I have been MIA since January, and I keep expecting to get “The Letter”. I’ve wondered if I should send a letter of my own and let them know I quit before they can fire me!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbeard Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 This is a something that has actually been on my mind. In the Church of Christ, if you do not attend regularly the elders will contact you and let you know that you are at risk of having your membership revoked. I’m not exactly sure of the sequence of events or the terminology, but they will not just ignore an absence. I have been MIA since January, and I keep expecting to get “The Letter”. I’ve wondered if I should send a letter of my own and let them know I quit before they can fire me!!! I always heard bits and pieces of shit like this while growing up in the CoC, whether it be about transfering your membership or having it revoked. None of it makes any sense at all though, because CoC doesn't keep up with tithing and I've never actually heard of anyone's membership being "revoked" or any consequences if it was. Seems like a bunch of hot air to me, but I wouldn't expect differently either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loren Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 This is a something that has actually been on my mind. In the Church of Christ, if you do not attend regularly the elders will contact you and let you know that you are at risk of having your membership revoked. I’m not exactly sure of the sequence of events or the terminology, but they will not just ignore an absence. I have been MIA since January, and I keep expecting to get “The Letter”. I’ve wondered if I should send a letter of my own and let them know I quit before they can fire me!!! I recall years ago having "The Visit" from a CoC damned pastor and an elder to find out why I'd been looking into other churches. (I got baptized in their church.) The conversation never got heated or anything, but I refused to budge. When they left, as they walked away, they both made a point of letting me see them ostentatiously slap the dust off of their shoes, thereby consigning me to hell by their righteous biblical authority. This was not one of the more mainstream CoC churches, but one of those weird little house churches. Nice people. What the hell was I thinking?? Never mind. I remember exactly what I was thinking and I don't ever want to think that way again! However, your post got me to finally get off my figurative ass and do something I've had in mind for a while: Write a generic response to all bullshit email, suitable for all occasions where you don't feel like keeping the sender as a friend. Note that this will also work for hard copy letters sent to you by snail-mail, it's just all that more insulting. Here it is: Dear friend/business associate/government representative: Thank you for contacting us with your missive. We care about your communications! For your convenience, we are currently undergoing a serious retooling of our mainframe. Using punch cards has become too cumbersome, so, to keep up with the times, we are changing to a reel-to-reel magnetic tape memory storage system. We're very excited about this technological upgrade and are eagerly looking forward to all future exchanges with you. However, due to this mainframe changeover, your letter/email came through as scrambled coding. We did receive it, but were unable to read it. If you'd like for us to be able to read it, please resubmit your missive in FORTRAN. Thank you, and we look forward to hearing from you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mriana Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 I have, but they just won't take me off their mailing list. The Episcopal Church seems to want to keep membership numbers up for some reason, even if you aren't attending. They really don't bother me, except to send their monthly updates, which go unread and placed in file 13. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 When they left, as they walked away, they both made a point of letting me see them ostentatiously slap the dust off of their shoes, thereby consigning me to hell by their righteous biblical authority. I probably would have pissed myself from laughing at them. If I knew this was even a possibility I'd stay on the roles just so I could get this show on video. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeker630 Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 I have, but they just won't take me off their mailing list. The Episcopal Church seems to want to keep membership numbers up for some reason, even if you aren't attending. They really don't bother me, except to send their monthly updates, which go unread and placed in file 13. Start marking the letters "Return to Sender" and put them back in the mail. Or maybe mark it "Not at this Address" and send it back. Sooner or later they will figure it out. As for the OP, this subject has come up here before, and I've seen it at a couple of atheist boards too. It depends on what church you are talking about. I've seen a lot of posts by people who were Mormons, and it's a real bitch to try to get taken out of the church records. I was Catholic. They don't maintain rosters of members beyond the parish level, so no one in the RCC would have any way of knowing you had left other than the priest in your old parish. He and maybe others there would know because all parishes maintain the donor records of all their members, even including children. Yeah---as kids we were given little numbered envelopes so we could give some of our allowance every Sunday. The adults got them too of course, and they would track who was giving how much. Anyway, It's almost impossible to officially quit the church. The only way to do that is to write a letter to the bishop of the diocese or archdiocese your parish was in, and request that you be declared to be no longer a Catholic. And even then they don't have to release you if they don't want to. The RCC's position is--- once a Catholic---always a Catholic. Even if I never set foot in a Catholic church again, I am still considered a lapsed Catholic. Even being excommunicated does not change the fact that they still consider you a Catholic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted April 27, 2009 Super Moderator Share Posted April 27, 2009 If you're mailed a letter from a church, write "DECEASED" on the envelope and put it back in the mailbox. This doesn't work with the IRS however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
☆ TexasFreethinker ☆ Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 This thread reminded me that I'm still probably being counted as a Southern Baptist. I emailed the church where I was last a member and asked them to remove me from their rolls. I'm interested in what their response will be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noob Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 I recall years ago having "The Visit" from a CoC damned pastor and an elder to find out why I'd been looking into other churches. (I got baptized in their church.) NOOOO!!! I've been worried about "The Letter" but it never occured to me that I might be subjected to "The Visit"!!! That would be way, way worse. I need to send in my resignation letter ASAP! However, your post got me to finally get off my figurative ass and do something I've had in mind for a while: Write a generic response to all bullshit email, suitable for all occasions where you don't feel like keeping the sender as a friend. Note that this will also work for hard copy letters sent to you by snail-mail, it's just all that more insulting. Here it is: Dear friend/business associate/government representative: Thank you for contacting us with your missive. We care about your communications! For your convenience, we are currently undergoing a serious retooling of our mainframe. Using punch cards has become too cumbersome, so, to keep up with the times, we are changing to a reel-to-reel magnetic tape memory storage system. We're very excited about this technological upgrade and are eagerly looking forward to all future exchanges with you. However, due to this mainframe changeover, your letter/email came through as scrambled coding. We did receive it, but were unable to read it. If you'd like for us to be able to read it, please resubmit your missive in FORTRAN. Thank you, and we look forward to hearing from you! I like it! But I think the response needs to be in Assembly language! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedVillageGuts Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 When I was a pastor I tried purging the absentee membership a bit. Hit some resistance there because "what if they're away at school and just haven't had time to transfer yet" or "this is still their home base". Never mind that they hadn't been around for 5 years. Personally I renounced my membership - it felt good to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcane Lullabye Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 I never made my membership official to begin with. My friend told me I didn't need to give them my contact information or anything, so I didn't (thank goodness). I was still able to be involved with all the church activities and stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mriana Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 That is doable if you are not active in the church. However, if one gets really involved, such information giving is unavoidable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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