Hi Simon: The WTS represented to us when I was baptized at the Oakland, California convention in 1970, that we were not members in any organization, that mo membership roles are maintained, and that we are only citizens of God's heavenly kingdom.
They also take this position with respect to the Watch Tower corporations, because, in fact only a few hundred are actual members who vote on corporate matters. I believe that the Pennsylvania corporation have 500 share holders. If we became members at baptism, then we would hold legal rights in those corporations.
This also cuts the other way too. If we are not members of any organization, and no membership roles are maintained as represented to us by the legal memebrs of the Watch Tower Society, and we were bapitzed BEFORE they changed the baptism vows in 1985, then they have no legal basis on which to DF or DA any of us. So, since I was never a legal member, nor was baptized with the understanding that I was accoutnable to any church or organization, then I have never really been a JW, and any action they may have taken toward me is not legal or recognized. - Amazing