The Mormon church considers all Mormon blessed children to be "members of record." That means they are already on the books as entry level Mormon members. That means locals and missionaries think they have a right to go after these children to invite participation, baptism, and confirmation into the cult.

Sometimes they include parents in these efforts. Often they talk to the children directly behind the parent's backs. This is part of the program and happens with or without urging from TBM friends or family.

Anyone who does not want their children to be harassed needs to turn in resignations for them. This is not so much about the kids actually joining up and being sucked in. That could happen but isn't likely. The main point is privacy and respect. As parents we expect that for our kids.

You may be correct, but "children of record" is not the same as "member". They may be on ward rosters, but I don't think kids have a membership number until they are baptized. If they're only tied to their parent's membership, would they be on any rolls after the parents resigned?

Ask any child from three to eight or any parent, "What church are in?" Or "What church is your child in?"

They do not say "none." They say "Mormon or LDS."

Calling eight year olds "members" after they are baptized simply means a more graduated membership status. The child was a member when they were BIC and more so when they were blessed. Fuller membership status comes with baptism, then priesthood gradations and temple rituals.

I'm talking specifically about membership records. We know the church reports new "children of record", they're counted in the total membership numbers, they might call themselves Mormon, their names may be in the directory under their parents' names, etc..., but do they actually have their own membership number? Would the name of a one year old whose parents just resigned be included in the ward directory? I've never been a ward clerk, but I don't think they would be.

I don't care how they track these "members of record." The fact is they are tracked and targeted for fellowshipping as they approach age eight if not sooner. Sometimes as soon as they are walking and talking and of primary age, they start getting mail addressed to them and visitors at the door bringing treats and invitations to attend parties and classes at the local ward. These "Mormon child stalkers" usually assume the parents will be glad to have these kids get free baby sitting and instruction at the hands of local Mormons.

I have no interest in membership numbers or who keeps what records when locals and missionaries obviously have the names and addresses of kids they feel they should target.

Their record keeping and member numbers are their concern, not mine.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2015 03:39PM by Cheryl.

I can confirm that children of record do have their own membership number. My youngest child was blessed, but never baptized. She has a membership number listed for her on LDS.org. If I remember correctly, it includes the letter A, which the numbers of baptized members of the family don't have. Regular membership numbers don't have a letter in them, as far as I know.

Okay, I logged in just to make sure I remembered the letter thing correctly. The membership numbers are in XXX-XXXX-XXXX format, and the numbers of baptized members (at least for our family) only contain numbers. Youngest child's membership number has the letter A as the last digit, but otherwise looks like the others.

Maybe a former ward clerk can explain what the significance of the letter is.

At any rate, I'm planning to include her (and her record number) when we do eventually resign.

Edited to add: I can also confirm that youngest child is on the Primary lists, and has received targeted mail from Primary leaders in the past.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2015 05:24PM by Kismet.

Resigning may stop the harassment but they will still be included in the 15 million + membership total.

TSCC membership numbers include all children blessed not just those baptised. Resignation does not remove you from the membership totals, you are merely transferred to another unit in the computer system e.g. 'resigned members' or 'name removal requests'.

However, Cheryl is right to suggest resignation as a means of stopping TSCC from harassing the children and grooming them for baptism.

Interesting facts about the claimed 15 million members can be found here http://www.mormoninformation.com/stats.htm

I will quibble about saying a resignation "merely" gets your record transferred. The purpose of resignation is not to get LDS Inc to release accurate membership numbers. The numbers will be wildly inaccurate regardless.

The purpose of resignation is to terminate your membership relationship with the church. Them flagging your record to indicate that you are no longer a member accomplishes that.

I take glee that Tom had his "calling and election made sure", and later quit the church, but did not resign. A great example of the self-important hoist by their own petard.

Tom Phillips wrote:

"Resignation does not remove you from the membership totals, you are merely transferred to another unit in the computer system."

No doubt this is true. There are specific instructions on how to approve you for re-baptism if you have been excommunicated or had your name removed. If your record was just deleted, you could just be baptized as a new convert if you wanted.

They do the temple rites on the dead and reestablish their former status and "blessings."

So just to get it clear for me:
Without the baby blessing the name will not show up in any directory, list or record?
Of course our lil one is not blessed and she'll never be but since I have mot resigned yet and they actually can know her name and dob they could theoretically add her to my record.

For now she is mot but our Clerk is not the fastest to update the records.
I totally don't want her associated with moronism in any way.
She's born "out of wedlock" - and BF had already resigned - so if there's a chance that she will pop up on their system, its on my record.

When I eventually resign I don't want them to hook up my daughter and stalk her with primary activities, mails or what ever. I know that this is a "successful " tool in our ward since they reactivated a big family by inviting the kids to activities - although I still think the parents are only happy about "free" entertainment and babysitting of their 5 kids.

They think they're doing the kiddies a favor by keeping them in the system.

"Without the baby blessing the name will not show up in any directory, list or record?"

They dont get a membership number until the child of record form is filled out by the parents and clerk and sent in which happens at the time the baby is blessed.

However, this wouldn't stop a clerk from adding the baby's name into the ward membership list as a child of the member parent. But in order to do that they would have to get the name, DOB, etc. from the parents. When the parents resign they can request removal of all family names from the ward membership lists.