Tech Forum

I have a non-member young woman attending Young Women's. Is it possible for her to access personal progress on line without a membership number?

TinMan wrote:I have a non-member young woman attending Young Women's. Is it possible for her to access personal progress on line without a membership number?

No. Each person using personalprogress.lds.org must have an LDS Account tied to a membership record number. See questions #3 and #6 in the Personal Progress FAQ.

Thanks aebrown.

Question 6 was confusing to me. I have a second young woman who is going to be twelve soon. She is not baptized but was born to parents who had her blessed. She has a membership number but I guess since she has never been baptized she cannot access personal progress on line either. I will talk with her about it when she comes up for interviews in a couple of months. That will make a two that I can't track on line.

Too bad. Perhaps they "will remedy the situation" soon.

Thanks

TinMan wrote:Question 6 was confusing to me. I have a second young woman who is going to be twelve soon. She is not baptized but was born to parents who had her blessed. She has a membership number but I guess since she has never been baptized she cannot access personal progress on line either.

Speaking of the second YW you mentioned, however; Have you actually confirmed that she cannot obtain an LDS account and use it to track her Personal Progress? I don't think question 6 is entirely clear:
Question 6, (in part)

Although nonmembers may register for an LDS Account, at this time we do not have a feature that will allow young women who register without a membership number to sign in to Personal Progress online

A closer look at the details:

1. Unlike your first YW, who is not a member and has NO membership number, you say the second YW has a membership number, which is common for children of members (Child of Record: Quoted from the wiki)

   While the blessing of infants is not a saving ordinance and is not recorded on the Church's records, it is often used as the trigger for recording a birth and creating the new membership record for the child.

   Note: This refers to a "permanent record" created in SLC with a copy residing in your ward, not a temporary one created and held in your ward. see wiki if needed.
2. She is a non-member, because no confirmation date is recorded on her membership record, and is no longer even a "member of record." (membership record: quoted from the wiki)

   A person who is nine years or older who has a membership record but has not been baptized and confirmed is not considered a Member of Record. However, the bishop keeps the membership record until the person is 18.

3. Her membership record clearly may still exist until she is 18 (see above quote.) This allows her to continue to show on class rolls, lists, etc.

But, question 6 does not clarify about a person in her case that does indeed have a membership number, but no baptism or confirmation date recorded on that record. The requirements for an LDS account that would allow her access to the Personal Progress tracking specify only the need to have the membership number and a birth date, and don't seem to require a confirmation date to be recorded on that record.
(LDS account: from the wiki)

While anyone can register for an LDS Account, when you register using your MRN and birth date, Church applications like LDS.org can take advantage of LDS Account credentials to determine and grant appropriate access based on your current role (for example, bishop, stake president, etc.), ward, and location.

It's worth a try. Have an adviser or YW leader obtain her membership number from the clerk (IOS) and sit with her and try to obtain an lds account using her membership number as you would with any other baptized YW, and see if it works.

Let the rest of us know, as it would be much quicker than waiting for a programmer to "remedy the situation." Or, maybe somebody here has already tried this in this scenario?

TinMan wrote:Too bad. Perhaps they "will remedy the situation" soon.

As an afterthought...
It seems unfortunate that a non-member, who is willing and ready to participate with all other "members" in something as worthwhile as the online tracking of personal progress, cannot because they are not members. I believe this is a privacy issue that the church is very careful about, especially regarding "minors" under legal age, globally. That would explain the deletion of "member of record" memberships at 18, and the lack of birth dates on some non-member records. I think as time goes by, the church will fine-tune how we can allow others access, while still maintaining privacy rights and keeping with the laws of ALL countries. I can see in the future a parental permission being recorded, or others safeguards put in place. Patience is warranted here, as privacy is a "hot topic."