Why do you need to tell the ward?

[zerinus]

I am SO confused! A friend on another board is moving. I didn’t know she was a Mormon until she posted that one of her visiting teachers found out she was moving and she was called in to answer questions about it.

What business is it to the ‘church’? Why would you have to inform…nay, ask permission, to move?

Lastly, why is it called a ward?

Thanks!

Just curious

The LDS Church has a very well organized administration. When someone joins the Church, he is issued with a “membership record,” which contains all the details of his membership, such as his name, address, date of birth, date of baptism, and so forth. As he progresses in the church, that membership record is updated to reflect his status. For example, as he advances in the priesthood, his membership record is updated to reflect those changes in his status. Similarly, any changes in his name or address would be updated. A copy of that membership record is held in a central database at the Church’s head office; and a copy is also sent to the “ward” in which the person resides. The “ward” is equivalent to a “parish” in the Catholic Church. (A “stake” is equivalent to a “diocese”.) The membership record is very important, because it is the evidence of one’s membership of the Church. When someone is excommunicated, his name is struck off that list of member’s records, which means that he is no longer a member of the Church. When someone moves to a different locality, which places him within the geographical boundary of another “ward,” his membership record has to be “transferred” to that other ward as evidence of his membership of the new ward. Until that happens, he is not officially a member of that ward, and hence cannot participate in many important functions of his new ward. He could not be given various callings in the new ward (or stake), for example, unless his records are transferred. Hence, when someone moves from one location to another, the custom is that he tells the ward clerk where he resides, where he is going to, so that the clerk can arrange for his membership records to be transferred to the new ward. If he fails to do that, then when he arrives in his new ward, the people there will have to “request” his membership records to be sent to them, because he is not officially a member of that ward unless his records are received, as already explained. This is not mind control; it is just good order and good organization.

zerinus