What is required for church membership?

[Montanablue]

Buggy - I was in a very similar situation a year ago. The church of which I was member as a young person refused to allow me to transfer membership to a new church (not recognizing it as a church). Among other things, I had actually not attended this church for about 4 years (while I was in college) and I was moving to another town, so for practical reasons alone, I needed to change churches. I finally sent them a letter respectfully asking to withdraw my membership and then joined my church.

It was a really difficult thing to do, and even now, I wonder if I handled it correctly. The elders at my current church were also at a loss when their letter asking for a transfer or recommendation for membership was flatly denied. Is there another way that I should or could have handled this problem? My old church was an independent church (as is the church I attend now) so there wasn't really a higher body to which I could appeal. I'm also curious - does a church have the right to tell a member that they cannot leave the church? Of course, in a usual circumstance, I would not just leave outright, but would have my membership transferred - but in an odd situation like this, does the church have that authority?

 

[buggy]

Buggy - I was in a very similar situation a year ago. The church of which I was member as a young person refused to allow me to transfer membership to a new church (not recognizing it as a church). Among other things, I had actually not attended this church for about 4 years (while I was in college) and I was moving to another town, so for practical reasons alone, I needed to change churches. I finally sent them a letter respectfully asking to withdraw my membership and then joined my church.

It was a really difficult thing to do, and even now, I wonder if I handled it correctly. The elders at my current church were also at a loss when their letter asking for a transfer or recommendation for membership was flatly denied. Is there another way that I should or could have handled this problem? My old church was an independent church (as is the church I attend now) so there wasn't really a higher body to which I could appeal. I'm also curious - does a church have the right to tell a member that they cannot leave the church? Of course, in a usual circumstance, I would not just leave outright, but would have my membership transferred - but in an odd situation like this, does the church have that authority?

My previous church adheres a form of extreme local-church theology that denies the existence of the universal church. I don't know whether this helps, but I guess that's why they don't allow any transfers outside of churches of "like-minded faith". I understand their intention, but their criteria of "like-minded faith" is very very strict.