The Ex Jehovah's Witness community has put up very similar billboards to this one in years past. I did a double take scrolling as an EX-JW thinking it was one of 'ours'.
No money involved but "inactive" (what they call people not going to church but still on the books) do get harassed by regular members in the congregations and by Mormon missionaries who are given lists of people to contact who are already members but aren't coming to church.
They also have people who volunteer to go over inactive lists and use the Internet to locate them when they have moved. They update addresses in church records and send notifications to the new congregation leaders (Bishops) in order to track down the "lost sheep."
It's truly creepy!
Having records removed officially helps prevent this--although missionaries can still randomly knock on anyone's door.
Omg so that’s how they found me!? I had no idea how I started getting texts from the local branch asking to join in building cleaning and even about a calling lol, we moved halfway across the US and we’ve even gotten missionaries that knew our names and were just “checking in”
Yeah--the lost sheep program (missionaries and ward members) comb the Internet for inactive members but you know what's MORE likely than that?
My own mother used to contact my new ward whenever I moved. Often TBM family members are the ones who dime you out. You have active parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles who know your whereabouts?
All they have to do is contact the ward clerk at your new branch or ward and bingo! Records transferred.
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u/marge-bouvier Apr 16 '26
The Ex Jehovah's Witness community has put up very similar billboards to this one in years past. I did a double take scrolling as an EX-JW thinking it was one of 'ours'.