Church shall upon recommendation of the Official Board or the Board of Stewards and the approval of the Pastor be received into full membership, according to the forms in the ritual, ¶¶ 514, 515.

§ 4. A member in good standing in any orthodox evangelical Church who desires to unite with us may be received into full membership upon giving satisfactory answers to the usual inquiries.

§ 5. An accurate record of membership, including all changes of relation in the same, shall be kept; each entry to bear its proper date, and the Pastor shall report all such changes in membership at each Quarterly Conference. We also advise every Pastor to keep, in connection with the Church records, a constituency roll, containing the names and addresses of all persons related to the membership of his Church and Sunday School, either by kinship or preference.

II. Baptized Children and the Church

49. We hold that all children, by virtue of the unconditional benefits of the atonement, are members of the Kingdom of God, and therefore graciously entitled to Baptism; but, as infant Baptism contemplates a course of religious instruction and discipline, it is expected of all parents or guardians who present their children for Baptism that they will use all diligence in bringing them up in conformity to the Word of God; and they should be solemnly admonished of this obligation and earnestly exhorted to faithfulness therein.

150. We regard all children who have been baptized as placed in visible covenant relation to God and as preparatory members under the special care and supervision of the Church.

151. The Pastor shall make an accurate register of the names of all the baptized children within his pastoral care, giving the dates of their birth and baptism, the names of their parents, and the places of their residence. He shall also enroll their names as preparatory members; and should they remove, he shall issue Certificates of Registration to the Pastor of the Charge within whose bounds they have moved. 152. The Pastor shall organize the baptized children of the Church when they shall have reached the age of ten years, or at an earlier age when it is deemed advisable, into classes or Junior Epworth League Chapters, and appoint suitable leaders, whose duty it shall be to meet them once a week and instruct them in the nature, design, and obligations of Baptism, and in the truths of religion necessary to make them "wise unto salvation"; to urge them to give regular attendance upon the means of grace; to advise, exhort, and encourage them to an immediate consecration of their hearts and lives to God, and to inquire into the state of their religious experience; provided, that unbaptized children shall not be excluded from such classes or Junior Epworth League Chapters. 53. Whenever baptized children shall understand the obligations of religion and shall give evidence of piety, they may be admitted into member. ship in the Church, on recommendation of the Official Board or the Leaders and Stewards' Meeting, with the approval of the Pastor, after publicly assenting before the Church to the Baptismal Covenant and to the usual questions on Doctrines and Discipline, as prescribed in the Ritual.

154. Whenever a baptized child shall be deprived

of Christian guardianship, by orphanage or otherwise, the Pastor shall ascertain and report the facts in the case to the Official Board or to the Leaders and Stewards' Meeting; and such provision shall be made for the Christian training of the child as the circumstances of the case shall admit or require.

III. Transfer of Membership

¶ 55, § 1. An acceptable member of the Church desiring to remove his membership from one Pastoral Charge to another is entitled to be transferred as follows: The Pastor, or, if there be no Pastor, the District Superintendent, shall send to the Pastor of the Charge to which the member is to be transferred a Certificate in the following form:

"This is to certify that A. B., who holds a notice of this letter, is an acceptable Member of the...... Methodist Episcopal Church in and, having requested that his membership be transferred to the Methodist Episcopal Church in

...

.....

......

is affectionately commended to the fellowship of said Church. When the Church to which this Certificate of Transfer is issued acknowledges the receipt of the same and his enrollment, his membership in this Church shall cease."

§ 2. Notice of this transfer shall be given to the member in accordance with the following form:

“At your request I this day have sent a Certificate of Transfer of your membership to the Methodist Episcopal Church in

When

said Certificate is acknowledged and your name is recorded in the records of said Church, your membership in this Church will cease."

§3. The original Certificate shall be accompanied

by a blank for the acknowledgment of the same, in accordance with the following form:

"The Certificate of Transfer of the membership of

has been duly received as a Member of this Church and thereby ceases to be a Member of the Church which issued the Certificate.

§ 4 A complete record of each transfer shall be kept on thé stub in the Certificate book in the following form:

Name of member requesting transfer.....

Charge to which the Certificate is issued...

Date on which Certificate is issued...

Date of acknowledgment of Certificate and actual transfer of membership...

Name of Pastor or District Superintendent issuing Certificate...

Name of Pastor or District Superintendent acknowledging Certificate....

§ 5. When a Pastor shall have received a member on said Certificate, he shall notify the Pastor of the Church from which it was issued on the blank form which accompanies Certificate, as provided in § 3.

§ 6. Whenever a Pastor is appointed to another Charge he may complete the record of his pastorate by entering in the Church Record opposite the names of the members of his family who are Church members: "Member of Pastor's family, transferred to.........."; and enter the names on the Record of his new Charge with the note: "Member of Pastor's family, transferred from ....

¶56, § 1. A Certificate of Membership shall not be refused, if demanded by a member removing his residence to another charge, except for reasons that justify judicial proceedings against such member. A Certificate of Transfer shall not be given unless an actual change in the place of holding membership is intended.

§ 2. A Pastor may give a note of recommendation to any member who wishes to unite with any other Evangelical Denomination.

IV. Affiliated Members

¶57. When any of our young people, who are Church members, are absent from home attending school, they may, upon application, be enrolled as affiliated members in the Methodist Episcopal Church where the school is located, and by such membership shall be entitled to the proper privileges of such Church and to its pastoral oversight, and to engage in its active service, but they shall be counted and reported only in the membership of their home Churches.

V. Non-Resident Membership

¶58. Whenever the residence of a member who has removed cannot be ascertained by the Pastor or the Committee on Church Records for a period of at least one year, such member shall be recorded as "non-resident" and shall not be counted in the returns of Full Membership, but shall be reported in a separate column in the statistics. If the residence of such member cannot be ascertained for a period of three years he shall no longer be counted in the statistical returns, and the Pastor shall write after his name, "Removed without Certificate."