Tech Forum

Hi,

My wife and I were baptized but haven't been members for years. We moved away and I assumed we could close that chapter of our lives and just live in peace.
The members where we used to live must have found out we moved because my relatives got emails from LDS Membership Services asking for my address and phone number.
As soon as I found out I emailed LDS Membership Services and asked them to stop trying to find us and that we just wanted to be left alone but I was too late. On lds.org, our address is there now along with a lot of personal information and there's no way I found to quit, remove it, opt out, or anything else. I searched everywhere.
I really really want it gone immediately. It's so frustrating that I have to deal with this. What can I do? Who can I contact to get this fixed?

Thanks for your help in advance.

jaredrobertson wrote:What can I do? Who can I contact to get this fixed?

If this is what you wish to do, contact the bishop where you are living now. You will be able to find his contact information the same place you found yours, at LDS.org under Directory. Then click on the Ward Leaders link at the left. He will be able to help you complete your request.

You're still considered to be members of the Church, unless your records are removed. You'll need to work with your local bishop to have your records removed.

Normally when a member moves to another place, the membership records are transferred to their new location so they can be welcomed into their new ward. That's what happened in your case (though they don't normally reach out to family members unless they've been unable to contact you personally).

(See D&C 20:81–84, Moroni 6:4 – though the process has changed somewhat in the age of technology.)

just saying... you shouldnt have to have your records removed to want privacy and to be left alone.

I understand totally. I hate my bishop but I dont want to quit the church. I also just want to get my membership removed from my ward. I would just like them to sit in salt lake for a few years until i decide what part of the fence i want to be on. from the looks of it i would have to contact my bishop to get my records moved. well that is not ever happening so i guess if i move i just dont give any hint to where i moved to and then maybe my records will end up back in salt lake.

camillebarker wrote:I hate my bishop but I dont want to quit the church.

Bishops come and go. Yours will be released after he has served for a few years.

If you have not already done so, I would tell him how you feel. I would tell him you wish to be left alone, and perhaps work out an agreement that you will speak with the Relief Society president or another trusted sister in the ward.

And yes, if you move and do not let the ward know where you are going, your membership record will wind up at Church headquarters. But even they will try to locate you through relatives and other members.

So just let your bishop know where you are in life, and who your best friend in the ward may be so that you may stay in touch on your terms for now.

In an age of GDPR surely the church has an obligation to regularly request to members (active or not) if they wish the church to hold data hold on a member?