Transfer Lay Membership

Common Form for Letters of Transfer: Three-Part Letter of Transfer and Acceptance available from Church Publishing ( ISBN-13: 846863002658)

Canon I.17.4 of The Episcopal Church

(a) A member of this Church removing from the congregation in which that person’s membership is recorded shall procure a certificate of membership indicating that that person is recorded as a member (or adult member) of this Church and whether or not such a member:
(1) is a communicant;
(2) is recorded as being in good standing;
(3) has been confirmed or received by a Bishop of this Church or a Bishop in full communion with this Church.

Upon acknowledgment that a member who has received such a certificate has been enrolled in another congregation of this or another Church, the Member of the Clergy in charge or Warden issuing the certificate shall remove the name of the person from the parish register.

(b) The Member of the Clergy in charge or Warden of the congregation to which such certificate is surrendered shall record in the parish register the information contained on the presented certificate of membership, and then notify the Member of the Clergy in charge or Warden of the congregation which issued the certificate that the person has been duly recorded as a member of the new congregation. Whereupon the person’s removal shall be noted in the parish register of the congregation which issued the certificate.

(c) If a member of this Church, not having such a certificate, desires to become a member of a congregation in the place to which he or she has removed, that person shall be directed by the Member of the Clergy in charge of the said congregation to procure a certificate from the former congregation, although on failure to produce such a certificate through no fault of the person applying, appropriate entry may be made in the parish register upon the evidence of membership status sufficient in the judgment of the Member of the Clergy in charge or Warden.

(d) Any communicant of any Church in full communion with this Church shall be entitled to the benefit of this section so far as the same can be made applicable.