Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'
— Luke 15:4-6, NIV
Below are some suggested websites to check for missing members, including people locators and obituary listings. These resources do not represent an exhaustive list, but if you’ve already checked with family members and friends, as well as local newspapers and/or funeral home websites, one or more of these may help you.
None of these sites require payment, but some of them only provide partial information before asking you to pay for additional details. It is up to you to determine if you want to pay for information. The partial information may be enough for you to confirm whether or not it is the correct person or give you enough detail to use on another site (such as a street name without the house number) that may help you ID your member.
Sometimes “less is more” when searching. For example, if including the year of birth and/or death doesn’t result in a match, try without the extra details. If including a middle name (or even the first name) doesn’t find a match, try with just the initial. It may be that the name s/he “goes by” in your church is actually a middle name or nickname and won’t be the name used in an official record.