How can I "officially resign" from the Methodist church?

[mike1963]

I was baptised about 50 years ago...does that make me an 'official' member? I have not been to church for some 40 years after becoming what I've heard described as a "weak atheist" (I don't claim that there are absolutely no deitiess, but I cannot believe any exist.)

But I'd like to send them a message over their homophobic position and make some sort of point that I renounce any affiliation with them. But I have no idea how to go about it...
;-)
:eyes:

[trof]

1. Go to church next Sunday.

Just before the sermon starts, walk up to the front, turn around,
and MOON 'em.
That oughta do it.
;-)

[mike1963]

2. ROFL.....cough, choke...shit another ruined koybeard

:D

That particular church is really far away, would any Methodist one work?
;-)

[Hubert Flottz]

3. Hell they might pork him if he does that!

LMAO!

[Rowdyboy]

4. Write them a letter asking them to withdraw your membership

and explaining why. I'm sure you're still on the membership rolls of the church where you were baptised.

[slackmaster]

5. My ex tried to resign from the UMC and they're still sending her letters

She's moved several times, sent letters, never shown up at church, and somehow they still manage to find her.

[booksenkatz]

6. I left the Methodist church when I was about 20

That was 23 years ago. I simply stopped sending them money, which is the strongest message you can send to any church, as far as I can tell. That's the only thing that seems to interest them. Perhaps you could send a letter to their headquarters stating why you are leaving.

P.S. I know what you mean about the "weak atheist" thing. Some days I wake up thinking surely there is a god, then I read about the atrocities that are committed every day the world over and I think that surely there can be no god. Maybe I'm more of a "searching agnostic" in that I *want* there to be a god who is ultimately in control, but I don't see much evidence of it. Or perhaps I'm a Deist ~ a god created us, then sat back because it didn't give a damn what happened afterwards.

Good luck, let us know what happens.

[mike1963]

7. Sounds good, I'll google for their HQ...

thanks

[doni_georgia]

14. Here's the url

http://www.umc.org/

We've decided to stay in the UMC and fight for equal rights. Pisses me off, but I'm just not giving any money to the national denomination. I will give to specific ministries through my church (food pantry, homeless shelter, etc), but that's it. I figure we can all abandon the denomination and have it move further to the right, or we can stay in it and fight. I'm sick of letting the right have their way, so I'm fighting!

Send Rush Packing
http://www.geocities.com/sendhimpacking/

[doni_georgia]

15. Another idea -

Write your home church and ask that your membership letter be transferred to a Unitarian Church. Just pick one. you don't actually ever have to show up. In the letter, write why you are leaving.

[NuttyFluffers]

8. gee, us catholics get a choice around teenage years...

naturally we get baptized as a baby/child before we can make a real choice. nest we are marched along through 2 more catholic sacraments as we age: first confession and first communion. then we are given a real choice at the sacrament of confirmation, at around 15 years of age, whether or not we want to tie ourselves to the church. if you confirm then you are part of the church and then i wouldn't know how to leave formally, except for excommunication which would probably require formal expression of heresy. or maybe all you need to do is send a thank you/no thank you note to the archbishop. dunno.

but when i was given the choice to confirm i chose not to confirm. so all the previous sacraments are still there, but i am formally not part of the catholic church. i rejected them and their tenants. though the door is always open to return and confirm, so it's not like i chose to be 'banished' or anything.

the sacraments of methodists i'm not up to date on. considering baptism introduced you to the community against your consent, but was essentially a formality. does methodism have a sacrament of formal entrance/acceptance into the faith? if it does, and you never took it, then you aren't methodist. the freedom of choice is available in several churches, open-minded or not, and perhaps methodists are the same?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

10. Yes, they do

I went through catecism when I was 12. At the time, I was attending a liberal church with a really loving pastor who was also very knowledgable about the beliefs of other Christian faiths. Our entrance to the faith was not by First Communion (Methodists don't take Communion every Sunday), but by a laying on of hands.

The Methodist church seems to reflect the community in which it is. I grew up in a liberal college town in the North and later moved South, where I left the church due to intolerance of other faiths.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. Here's what I did

Now, mind you, I was baptized a Methodist about the same time you were-but I was a faithful member of the church, including being lay leader and member of the Official Board. However, eventually I had the misfortune to be attending a church whose members were very anti-Semetic. (I do not in any way mean to imply that the entire denomination is, btw, just this one church). When a member of my Sunday School class made an anti-Semetic joke, I stood up, looked at him, and said, "This thinking is what allowed the Holocost to happen. Jesus was a Jew, and He taught tolerance. I will not be a part of an organization that does not follow His teachings." And I stormed out. The minister later called me-and demanded my apology, which I refused. About a year or so later, I found my spiritual home in Sufism.

[w4rma]

11. You are allowing the right-wing wackos to take it over if you give up (nt)

[immoderate]

12. Walk in wearing a yarmulke

--IMM

[Dark]

13. You are not a weak athiest, you're what's called an agnostic.

That's what my dad is. It means you don't believe that there is or is not a god.

I'm like you. Was a methodist. Not now, but I never resigned, so I can't help you.

[bloom]

16. If everyone who never Officially resigned...

(I am one, also) sent in a resignation - that would be a powerful message, I would think.

[moondust]

17. After not seeing you for 40 years

are they going to care what your message is? Is your name Tom, Dick, or Harry?