The Boy Scouts

[brosmith]

I came across something new today (at least it is new to me): an independent Baptist church becoming chartered to have Boys Scouts and Cub Scouts as a ministry of their church. I also found out that an independent Baptist preacher wrote a book promoting this concept (it is available as a free download). What do you all think? By the way, what would you think if an independent Baptist church rejected King's Kids in favor of adopting Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts? (Yes, it has happened!)

[DennisD]

Boy Scouts is still one of the few organizations around that has lived up to their core principles. Not always though. I've been a part of two troops/packs now that have prayed in Jesus' name before meetings/food/ceremonies/etc. This is rare but has happened two instances in a row.

I believe it makes the troop/pack better if they are chartered by an IFB church but then there is the other side of the coin where a troop/pack can be chartered by a heathen organization as well. Boy Scouts are one of the few organizations that have stood strong against homosexuality but I'm sure those walls will be knocked down eventually.

I am not familiar with King's Kids but I'm sure it's something fairly close to Keepers of the Faith (Keepers at Home for girls/Contenders of the Faith for boys). My last church had this and I enjoyed teaching the same things I teach in Boy Scouts like Archery, First Aid, Camping, etc. I also enjoyed the scripture tie in to most of these and the other subjects that were strictly Bible/Christian (Bible reading, memorization, prayer warrior, etc).

I believe that if a church is already doing King's Kids, Keepers of the Faith, etc...why get rid of it for Scouts? If they want to add Scouts on top of what they already have on a night where there is nothing else going on (church service, soul winning, visitation, etc)...then it seems fine with me.

Also, the chartered organization usually doesn't have a HUGE part to play in the Troop/Pack. They provide a place to meet, some monies for certain things but other than that...the actual leaders and/or scouts run the show. A church could be the charter organization and literally do nothing with the scouts.

[no name joe]

I grew up in Boy Scouts, and earned my Eagle Scout. The church I grew up in, Baptist church, sponsored Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. It was the activity that the church had for boys, and was a real outreach and ministry. I learned many life skills in Scouts that will remain with me my entire life. It can be used as a very effective tool to teach boys. From Sunday School and church, I learned the Bible. From Scouting, I learned many skills such as leadership, community, being a good citizen, the importance of doing good for others, etc. Scouting gave me an outlet as a boy to learn how to integrate what I learned in church into "real life." In church I learned to love God and love my neighbor. Scouting really put that into daily practice, something that is missing from many chidlren's programs at church that just teack children "book knowledge." In scouting, we actually visited elderly neighbors, had to pick service projects, plan them and implement them. We had to organize people to get things done. For example, one service project I did was to tear down and rebuild a fence on the church property that was in great need of repair. It took desiging the fence, working with a budget, gathering volunteers, leading a group to accomplish this task. I chose this because I saw it as a need, and the church invested in me so I invested in the church. That fence is still standing today, nearly 20 years later.

I am not saying churches must adopt Boy Scouts. I am saying that it can be used to really reach out to boys and teach them. Far too many churches have programs for boys that only teach "book knowledge" or is a program that encourages passive involvement. Boy Scouts is active, which boys desperately need. Boys have enough of sitting still in class being instructed. They need hands on involvment and activity to best learn. Boy Scouts is one of many great outlets for that.

[HappyChristian]

Good post, KOB. My hubby was a scout. In fact, it was because of scouts that he got saved. He attended a Baptist church - but only for the baseball. The church had a team, and he loved playing, so he went to Sun and Wed p.m. services so he could play. One week, the church held a revival. My hubby wasn't interested, so wasn't going to go. However, his cousin, who was in scouts with him, came to his house and they were talking. His cousin asked if he was going to the revival. Upon his negative answer, the cousin told him that their scoutmaster (who was a deacon at my hubby's church) said the scouts had to go to at least one night. So they went that night. The preacher preached on Hell. Randy knew he wasn't saved, and God convicted him strongly. His cousin saw that, offered to go up with him, and Randy went to the altar and was shown how to be saved. So, scouts had a direct impact on his salvation.

In the current climate of our culture, I think Boy Scouts is a grand thing for boys. The emasculation of males is consistent, but Boy Scouts is a way to get a group of guys together and show them how to be men. Kudos, KOB, on your fence. I'm sure the lessons you learned at church and applied at scouts still stick with you today. I know they do my hubby.

[blossom]

I would love this kind of thing to be in our church. Our boys need this kind of thing. However in our country, scouts is run by wordly people with wordly behaviour and philosophy. I put my boys into boy's brigade thinking this might be better, it was run by a baptist union church. For the most part it was okay but the end of year presentation left a lot to be desired. They won't be going back this year.