I was reading ambivalentmo's story about sending in the resignation number, and the form that was shown has "my membership number is."

I had no idea you folks were numbered! Somehow that's more shocking than the odd beliefs. Back when I was a recognized member of the Methodist Church, I don't think I was ever more than FirstName LastName of the Methodist Church in MyTown.

That's weirdly creeply.

As a computer person, I can attest that every time you're in a computer, you have a number. Whether the organization ever lets you see it is the only question.

It's not creepy, it's just the way computers work.

(I'm not defending the church in general, but I disagree with this particular point.)

I don't think it's particularly creepy, any more than a driver's license number or my membership number for the Society for Technical Communication. Putting the number in just makes sure the right person's records are removed.

Next: tattoo your membership number on your (xxx).

I don't really find it creepy. It is a database.

Yes, the fact that they have a database and the type of information that they keep in it is creepy. The number, not so much.

We don't have membership numbers, but if we pledge, meaning we promise to give a set amount to the church, we get pledge envelopes, and we have a pledge envelope number. The money we give to the church is anonymous unless you happen to know everyone's pledge envelope number (you'd be surprised!).

The program is Powerchurch. It is nice to get a year end statement for tax purposes. We can now pledge online. I have a monthly automatic payment from my credit card. I feel a little funny when the plate goes by, though.

presbyterian Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We can now pledge online. I have a monthly automatic payment
> from my credit card. I feel a little funny when the plate goes by, though.

I recently attended Sunday worship services for three weeks at our local Methodist church (Don't ask why!). In each pew were blank offering envelopes in which you could put the offering. But they also had printed cards saying "I give electronically" so that you can put something in the plate and not be embarrassed.

Maybe you could bring an envelope with you containing a note saying something like "My offering of $xxx has been transferred electronically" and you will have something to drop in the plate.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2012 07:58PM by RPackham.

I always have a blank envelope to drop in the plate to cover the fact that I'm copping a few dollars out of it by sleight of hand.

That would certainly work at my church where teenagers pass the plate. They are oblivious! How about accidentally tipping the plate over and "helping" pick up all the cash?

Speaking of records, we have filing cabinets filled with minutes of meetings of our administrative boards, the Session and Board of Deacons, going back to the 1950's. We even have a copy of every church bulletin! It seems silly to me, but look at old European churches that have records that go back 1,000 years.

How telling is that?


Ana

That is right...no numbers at my Methodist church and I think it is weird Mormons have a number. Does that mean they look at your number to enter the temple too? We do have a number on our pledge envelope but that would be expected...attach the amt. to a number instead of looking at anyone's name. In our church NAME is not important.....give what you can and you are not guilted to give more. Some people only give up to $99.00 in a yr. and others give $15,000.00 in a yr. Who cares?

For that matter, why are there records? Why are they keeping track of individuals?

My mother was treasurer of our little Methodist Church. Every Sunday she gathered up what was in the offering plates, then went home and counted it up. She entered the total in the ledger, and that was it. Some members of the congregation had little offering envelopes that they'd sign, but Mother never kept track of who gave what. She just opened the envelopes, pulled out the money and put it in the pile, and threw out the envelopes. If she read the names, it was for her own curiosity.

Nowadays, some Methodists expect year-end statements showing their giving (so they can report that plus 25% on their taxes). Most Methodist churches now use a database program (can't remember its name) published by the national association to keep track of members, their attendance, giving, and any other information the local church wants to include. AS far as I know, the information is only kept locally and not shared with region or national.

genealogy and saving dead people has a lot to do with their focus on record keeping. Of course, connected to that is keeping/retrieving live ones as tithe payers.

That was added some years ago. It has info for the computer use.
That number is necessary to order garments on line, for instance.
Nothing nefarious about it. It's a necessary part of the computer age. We have loads of numbers these days as we all know! :-)

"They've given you a number,and taken away your name."



"I am not a number, I am a free man!"

Nobody took away your name, it's still necessary when dealing with the LDS Church and using the membership number. It's just an adjunct. Everyone has a phone number, social security number, drivers license number, etc. No biggie!

1960's pop culture references to "Secrete Agent Man" and "The Prisoner" ;-)

When the Earth was young and I was a little lad my Aunt used to come by every Sunday and drag me off to (non-Mo) church with my cousins. Collection was taken by (elderly adult) deacons passing a velvet bag on a long stick down the pews. One fine Sunday one of my cousins dropped a live lizard into the bag. The elderly deacon about had a heart attack when his collection bag came alive. I was falsely blamed and convicted; as punishment I was required to memorize a bunch of biblical "begats." The "begats" are about as boring as it gets.

as my daughter wanted my membership number for her genealogy class. I found my baptism and blessing documents and no numbers. (I'm almost 55.) I told her she'd have to ask the bishop of this ward.

TSCC has a number: 0

ID numbers, and on and on. My car has a VIN number.
Numbers are here to stay, folks.
Use them if you want access to your accurate info. Nearly everything is computerized these days.
The Internet is full of dozens of needed numbers including passwords, pin numbers etc.
About makes me bleary-eyed trying to keep the list straight! :-)

My father has never been a Mormon and HE has a number. (It shows up on my membership record because they track parents.)

Wow - now that is interesting! Maybe the goal is that everyone in the whole world will get a Mormon number. Maybe if you never went to the temple to get one of the names but you know your number you can sneak into the Celestial. They will need more bouncers.

A number would be very important because at any time your status can change. Yesterday maybe you could have attended your daughter's wedding but today you cannot. They need to be up on you because you might not be worthy day after tomorrow. Plus, you are connected and sealed to different family. They need to sever those ties if one of your family leaves the church and numbers are the best way to track who can make it into the celestial kingdom on any given day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2012 08:58PM by suckafoo.