.: HOW CAN I MEET EX-MORMONS IN MY AREA?
“I recently left the Mormon Church and I miss the fellowship I had with my friends and family in the Church. How can I meet other Ex-Mormons in my area who understand what I am going through?”
OUR RESPONSE:
Dear friend,
You must feel so lonely. It is hard to leave the LDS Church, not only because you lose the spiritual and emotional friends and family support you received in the Church, but also because you face many fears, doubts, and confusing thoughts as you work to reevaluate everything you had been taught as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The loss of this spiritual identity can be one of the hardest aspects of leaving to overcome.
Without a good support group, many ex-Mormons have been tempted to go back in spite of the problems that led them to leave in the first place. So, we highly recommend that you continue in your pursuit to find others who have been where you are and who understand what you are going through. Here are a few suggestions:
The best place to go to find Ex-Mormons in your area is the Ex-Mormon Meetup Website. There you will be able to enter your zipcode to see a list of Ex-Mormon Meetup groups in your area. If there is not an Ex-Mormon Meetup group in your area, this website will give you a list of people who have signed-up to be notified when a Meetup group is started.
Once you create a personal account on the meetup.com website, you have the option to join any of the groups listed or to put your name on the list to be notified when an Ex-Mormon group starts in your area. You can also start a Meetup group yourself if you want to be responsible to maintain it as the group “Organizer” who schedules the monthly meetings. To start a Meetup group, all you need to do is click the link at the top of the meetup.com website page that says, “Start a Meetup.” Then, follow the instructions from there. It is simple to setup and maintain. The only draw back to starting a group is the cost that Meetup charges the Organizer for its service. Currently, it runs $72.00 for 6 months of service.
You can also meet Ex-Mormons by emailing our Ex-Mormon Ministry Team volunteers and/or by joining a few of the Ex-Mormon Facebook Groups we like to participate in. Most of our support group meetings are online over the Internet, so you can participate anywhere at anytime and meet Ex-Mormons from around the world!
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