Tech Forum

We have an excommunicated member attending our ward, and he expressed a desire to the bishop to be listed on directories and class rolls to feel more included. The bishop asked me, the ward clerk, if I could add him in MLS so he appears on printed directories and such.

Is there a policy preventing me from creating a nonmember record for this former member?

As a Ward Clerk, you should have access to the CHI. I'd check there for direction.

Looking at the MLS Help file, it says "Information on nonmember records will not print on organization lists and rolls because the organization profiles do not include nonmembers. Nonmembers will print on family type reports such as the directory of members, the telephone directory, and so forth."

So it appears that being on the rolls is not possible.

RussellHltn wrote:Looking at the MLS Help file, it says "Information on nonmember records will not print on organization lists and rolls because the organization profiles do not include nonmembers. Nonmembers will print on family type reports such as the directory of members, the telephone directory, and so forth."

So it appears that being on the rolls is not possible.

Ah, but it is possible. The MLS help file is wrong. Nonmembers will not get added automatically to any organizations. But you can add nonmembers manually to most organizations, and then they will be included on the organization lists and rolls.

In our stake, excommunicated members are often added to MLS (under the direction of the bishop, of course). This helps reduce awkward questions that may arise when they don't appear on various lists.

Of course, since a directory LUWS only lists info on members, an excommunicated member will not show up there. So awkward questions won't be eliminated.

Also, unless something has changed with recent versions (I'm no longer a MLS user), a nonmember cannot be added to lists for YM, YW, YSA or Primary (a deficiency in MLS, IMO).

Greggo wrote:Also, unless something has changed with recent versions (I'm no longer a MLS user), a nonmember cannot be added to lists for YM, YW, YSA or Primary (a deficiency in MLS, IMO).

Please see Alan's post before yours.

Alan_Brown wrote:Ah, but it is possible. The MLS help file is wrong. Nonmembers will not get added automatically to any organizations. But you can add nonmembers manually to most organizations, and then they will be included on the organization lists and rolls.

What is the procedure for adding a nonmember manually to classes and the MLS ward directory?

Ozzy wrote:What is the procedure for adding a nonmember manually to classes and the MLS ward directory?

To add a nonmember to the MLS ward directory, follow the directions in the wiki for adding Nonmember records, unless it is a spouse of a member, in which case you follow the directions for adding a Nonmember spouse. Make sure you take note of the restrictions listed there before you do.

Once the nonmember record has been added, you can manually add a member to a class by going to the Class Members tab of the appropriate organization and clicking the Add Members link. MLS will initially not list nonmembers on the selection list for YM and YW, but you can sneak around this restriction. Just add the nonmember to the Elders Quorum or Relief Society, then remove them (by going to the Class Members list and clicking the Remove link by the person's name). In the dialog box that pops up, specify the destination organization as Deacons/Teachers/Priests or Beehives/Mia Maids/Laurels. The really strange thing is that once you do that workaround, you can also add nonmembers to Primary classes. The above workarounds work with the MLS test data, but I haven't tried them with live data.