Resignation Sample Letter
Many people write in asking us how to go about writing a letter to the Church requesting their names to be removed. We highly encourage all people who want to disassociate themselves with Mormonism to officially resign and demand the Church send you the papers acknowledging that you have taken this action.
These papers serve two purposes for the ex-Mormon. 1-You are taking control of your life, you are no longer under their edict. 2-They are forced to claim one less person in their ranks. While the latter may not seem to make any type of impact upon the Church, let me say that if everyone who leaves would do this, the Church wouldn’t be able to claim half the numbers they do!
You’ll want to have three copies of the letter to send out. One copy goes to each of the following; the bishop, stake president and the headquarters for membership in Salt Lake City.
Two of the letters will probably come back to you unopened. Keep them for your verification they were sent. The other one will make it to one of the three with someone responding. You can find the addresses for your bishop and Stake President in your local yellow pages. The address for the Church headquarters is:
Presiding Bishop LDS Headquarters
50 East North Temple St.
Salt Lake City, UT 84150
You will then receive a form letter from your area representative informing you that you could “lose the blessings of baptism” if you continue your action. It will also say that per your request they will remove your name if they don’t hear from you within thirty days. After that time you will receive your letter signed and dated stating your name has been removed and you are no longer a member of the Church.
Depending on how active you were at the time of your resignation, they may try to coerce you into a Church trial. DO NOT SUBMIT YOURSELF to this action. State politely but firmly in your letter the reasons why you want your name removed and give them thirty days from the day they receive the letter. By law they are required to follow your request.
Your letter can say anything you want it to! You will want to take your time to think about everything you want it to say – but now is not the time to be bashful! If you don’t want anyone coming over to harrass you, let them know in that letter.
Below is a copy of the letter my husband and I sent out. Feel free to copy any or all of it and be sure you put your desires of what you want in that letter. You’re taking control of your life so let them know too.
Dear Stake President;
This is to inform you that I hereby resign from the Mormon Church and request that my name, and the names of my wife and children be stricken from the records of the Church of Jesus Christ; of Latter-day Saints. This demand is made freely and with full understanding of the consequences of the act, as taught by the Church. Please be advised that I take this step by the power of my free agency and under the right to freedom of religions as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Unites States of America.
We must insist that the letter notifying us that our names have been removed from the records of the Church show that the ONLY reason that our names have been removed is that we have requested it to be done, as an act of resignation. I will proceed with legal action against you personally and the Church corporately if anything is done to libel our good name and cause us any loss of reputation to comply with this letter of resignation in a timely manner.
Be advised this action has been taken because it has been demonstrated to our full satisfaction that Mormonism is in great error, and teaches false doctrines.
I do not place my eternal life in the hands of any latter-day prophet nor is it conditional on my membership in any church or priesthood. I place my life at the foot of the cross.
I do not believe Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. He fails every test of a prophet including leading people after another god, uttering false prophecies, teaching false doctrine and lying.
I am convinced the LDS church NOT the “Restored Gospel”. I do not believe that the real Gospel ever left the earth.
I am convinced that the Book of Mormon is a contrived document and not of divine origin.
I am convinced the Pearl of Great Price (particularly the Book of Abraham) is a work of pure fraud.
I am convinced the Doctrine and Covenants has been rewritten, added to, and whole sections deleted in such proportions as to make it invalid as scripture of any kind, even if it were true that God spoke these things to Joseph Smith (which He didn’t!).
I am convinced the LDS Church has made serious, substantial changes to all their scriptures as well as most church history. I believe they have done this in order to dupe their members, to hide doctrinal errors and to protect some leaders from exposure of their moral failures.
I am convinced the priesthood of the LDS Church holds absolutely NO authority to act in the name of God. Its origin is a lie and its power is the power of priest craft and Satan is its Master.
I am convinced the god of the LDS temple ritual is Satan, who teaches doctrine to Adam and Eve, and whose apron every patron wears and to whom Adam prayed and was answered and to whom all the temple patrons pray (until 1990), crying “Pay Lay Ale”.
I am convinced the True and Living God will not require us to meet him at some cloth veil, wearing secret underwear, and chanting mystical secrets in his ear to be found worthy to enter his presence.
I am convinced the LDS “Law of Eternal Progression” with its unscriptural description of the nature of God is an abomination in the sight of God.
You may be assured that our decision has been the result of much prayer and is final. We will not participate in any Church court or trial, for we have done no wrong. My family and I rejoice that we have received the real Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour and Lord, and we have the assurance and joy of our Salvation according to God’s Word, the Holy Bible (I John 5:11-13).
Sincerely,
Kirk Garrett Grim
Michelle Parker Grim
Mallory E. Grim, Jacquelyn M. Grim and Alexandra M. Grim
My wife and I are using your resignation letter today. Thanks, Tom and Kathy Bartlett
Tom and Kathy!
Oh we’ll be praying for you! Can you keep us updated and let us know? We’d love to hear your testimonies so we can all be blessed! How long have you been out of the Church? I pray you and your family have come to know the Lord Jesus – the life of true Christianity is so MUCH BETTER!!!
Let us know how we can pray for you guys and God bless!
With Love in Christ;
Michelle Grim