One for beating his wife. Three for habitual, willful lying. Four for railing and evil-speaking. One for idleness and laziness. Today, though, inactive or negligent Methodists may be removed from a local church roll only after a long and cumbersome process of seeking their permission for removal and reading their names before the charge conference three years in a row.
Today getting onto a membership roll is very easy, but being removed is very difficult.
It has become so principally because a congregation's apportionment askings are based largely on the local church's total membership. When the denomination loses members, it loses money. Falling into inactivity may indicate more than ever a person's need for the ministry of the church. However, the actual result is a denomination whose local church rolls are laden with the names of thousands of uncommitted people. We have removed the Wesleyan price tag from Methodist membership to prevent membership losses.