General Guidelines
- Make your request in written form.
- Mail copies of your letter to the Stake President
and the Membership Records Dept. at Church headquarters
in Salt Lake City.
- Indicate on your letter that you have done this by
putting CC in front of the Stake President's name and
also Membership Records Department, SLC — this lets the
Bishop know that these others have received the letter,
and he's more likely to respond in a timely manner.
- You only need to write one letter. Make photocopies for the additional copies you'll be sending out, and be sure to keep a copy for your own records. Use certified or registered mail to the home address of the bishop and stake president.
Suggested Content
After stating that you want your named removed from the
membership rolls of the LDS Church, you may want to include
some or all of the following elements.
- Your reasons for leaving.
- You will not participate in a church court or
disciplinary council as you have done nothing wrong. You
simply do not want to be a member anymore. You are
exercising your freedom of religion. You are asking for
a simple administrative procedure.
- You do not want any contact by anyone except by mail
confirming your name has been removed from the records.
This includes no home teachers, visiting teachers and
church leadership trying to visit you or call you on the
phone.
- Your decision is not based on personality conflicts
with other members, nor is it the result of immorality
(two things that are typically presumed about people who
decide to leave the LDS Church).
- You understand what you are requesting.
- You also may want to have everyone in the family who are leaving sign the letter, including your children.
Sample
Exit Letters
Sample letter 1
Sample letter 2
Suggested Follow-up
The LDS Church tends to drag out such requests as long as
possible, therefore you may want to consider one or more of
the following options:
After 30 days call the Mormon Church records office in Salt
Lake City, and tell them you made a formal written request
to your bishop or branch president more than 30 days ago.
They can verify if your name has been removed. If they find
it is still there, they will contact your local leaders and
tell them to act upon your request. Here is the necessary
contact information:
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Membership Records Dept.
50 E. North Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
(801) 240-3500
It is possible your bishop may stall the process because
he is "concerned about your eternal future." His concern is
not the issue. If he persists in refusing to process your
request, your follow-up letter might include a paragraph
mentioning your willingness to approach the local media with
the Church's lack of compliance with your request. The LDS
church does not like negative publicity.
Your bishop may also say you must have an "interview" or
attend a "court". This is not true and it may be necessary
to remind him of your initial request for no contact from
church leaders, and mention your willingness to take either
legal or public action.
If you have not already done so, you may want to contact our
online support for people leaving the LDS Church. It is
called MIT-Talk and has over 150 members — many of whom have
left or are in the process of leaving the church. Others in
your position have found the support, friendship, and ideas
from this group to be helpful in the transition process.
Information on joining MIT-Talk.