The "God and Church" Program Grades 6-8

A large number of religious groups offer Religious Emblem programs for the youth in their congregation. The PRAY series of awards is used by a large number of protestant denominations.

The God and Church award is one of four awards in the God and Country series. It is age appropriate is for 6-8 graders.

Please note, that this program is not only for Scouts, it is appropriate for all youth of these ages. Many churches, open the participation in this program to all age appropriate youth in the congregation.

A Brief overview of the program can be found here.

The following is a partial listing of the denominations that use the P.R.A.Y. program: African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Assembly of God, Baptist, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Methodist Episcopal, Church of God, Episcopal, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, and Independent Christian churches.

Loyal

The Second Part of the Scout Law is:

A Scout is Loyal.
A Scout is true to his family, friends, Scout leaders, school, and nation.

It is easy to be Loyal when things are going well.

Proverbs 17:17 - A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity

The word brother in this context does not mean merely a biological brother, but a person who is closer than a friend. That is, staying loyal to your friends in times of adversity will build a stronger bond than normal friendship, it will cause you to become as close as brothers.

In Matthew 26 33-35, Peter originally promises that he will be loyal to Jesus, even risking death. Later, in Matthew 26 69-75, he disowns Jesus three times. True loyalty is not measured in good times, but can be seen best when times are hard.

Ask your scouts about times when it might be difficult to be loyal to a friend. What can they do in those situations, when it would be easier to abandon their friends and give up that loyalty?

What makes a good Chaplain

If a Scout troop is chartered by a religious organization, the head of that organization, or someone he recommends will become the chaplain. In a case where the troop has no religious affiliation, a local member of the clergy can be approached to perform this role.

Note, that most Pastors, Rabbis, etc. are very busy, with a number of demands on their schedule. While the BSA documents assume they will have plenty of time for this role, that's not always going to be the case. In many cases, there will be one or more older people in the congregation with the spiritual background who may be able to fill this role, with the Pastor's endorsement.

Because most troops have multiple faiths represented, this can be far trickier than picking out someone to work with a youth organization that is wholly made up of church members.

This person must be able to work with boys from various faith backgrounds, and encourage each boy to grow in their religious faith... even if the chaplain himself follows a different one.

The chaplain would certainly be able to invite families to join the church at weekly worship service, but should not proselytize, or push his faith upon families or youth within the unit.  This person should be accessible to the youth and their families, sensitive to their needs and be willing to help them.

Avoiding Faith is like a Starvation Diet

I wanted to highlight a website I came across, named Scouting For God. On the main page of the website, it has an interesting letter that you would never want to send out as a scout leader.

Dear Scouts and families,

This is to inform you that effective immediately, we will no longer be serving food on our campouts.

While we have always enjoyed preparing and serving food with your sons each weekend, we recently discovered that one of the boys is a vegetarian. Since we are used to serving meat with most meals, we have decided it is easier to simply not serve any food over the campout weekend. Those boys who are interested in eating should bring their own food and eat privately within their own tents.

Your Scoutmaster

This is the way quite a few scouting units approach religion. In order to avoid offending everyone, they leave out everything related to religion. While religion is intensely personal to the scout and their family, the answer is to be inclusive, not to exclude everything equally.

Superman Grace

Baden-Powell once said:

A fisherman does not bait his hook with food he likes. He uses food the fish likes. So with boys.

While we do want to encourage scouts to say grace before meals, there's no rule saying it has to be a boring old adult style grace. Here's one that will probably put a smile on their faces.

Here's one I first heard at a Girl Scout Daddy Daughter dance.

Superman Grace
     (To the tune of the Superman Music.)

Thank you Lord, for giving us food
     (actions: raise right arm overhead as Superman flying)
Thank you Lord, for giving us food
     (actions: raise left arm flying)
For the food we eat
     (actions: standing with both arms over head, to the left)
For the friends we meet
     (actions: standing with both arms over head, to the right)
Thank you Lord, for giving us food!
     (actions: move both hands in fists to hips and stand strong like Superman)

BSA Religious Emblems Coordinator

The BSA Has developed a new position called the "Religious Emblems Coordinator" at the Council and District Levels.


Their role is to promote the Religious Emblems programs at various units, roundtables, etc. Also, they are encouraged to work with Religious leaders for various chartering partners to encourage them to support the program locally.

A Video about this position

Praypub also has some materials here that can be used to assist with that position.

Wolf Duty to God Requirements

As part of the Wolf Requirements, a Cub Scout is expected to do Requirement 12: Duty to God.

• a. Complete the Character Connection for Faith.
• Know. What is "faith"? With your family, discuss some people who have shown their faith - who have shown an inner strength based on their trust in a higher power or cause. Discuss the good qualities of these people.
• Commit. Discuss these questions with your family: What problems did these faithful people overcome to follow or practice their beliefs? What challenges might you face in doing your duty to God? Who can help you with these challenges?
• Practice. Practice your faith while doing the requirements for "Duty to God."
• b. Talk with your family about what they believe is their duty to God.
• c. Give two ideas on how you can practice or demonstrate your religious beliefs. Choose one and do it.
• d. Find out how you can help your church, synagogue, mosque, temple, or religious fellowship.

This is an excellent opportunity for a cub scout to work with his parents to learn about service, tithing, and other obligations one has to your church. 

From a Christian perspective, there are a number of stories that would go into the theme of faith very well. Noah building the Ark and David and Goliath come to mind as examples that kids might already be aware of, but there are probably hundreds more that a parent could select from.

Also, finding out how to help the church is an excellent opportunity. I would advise parents to not simply pick out something for their son, but to go with them to talk to the Sunday school teacher, pastor, or someone else to  explore how they could help.

The "God and Family" Program Grades 4-5

A large number of religious groups offer Religious Emblem programs for the youth in their congregation. The PRAY series of awards is used by a large number of protestant denominations.

The God and Family award is one of four awards in the God and Country series. It is age appropriate is for 1st - 3rd graders.

For Cub Scouts that would be first or second year Webelos. For Girl Scouts, that would be Juniors. Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts can wear this medal on their uniform.

Please note, that this program is not only for Scouts, it is appropriate for all youth of these ages. Many churches, open the participation in this program to all age appropriate youth in the congregation.

A Brief overview of the program can be found here.

The following is a partial listing of the denominations that use the P.R.A.Y. program: African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Assembly of God, Baptist, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Methodist Episcopal, Church of God, Episcopal, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, and Independent Christian churches.

Trustworthy

(Note: For the next few Sundays, I will be focusing on one of the Aspects of the Scout Law, and referencing passages of scripture that touch on that topic.)

The First part of the Scout Law is

A Scout is Trustworthy.
A Scout tells the truth. He is honest, and he keeps his promises. People can depend on him.

Some related verses to think about.

• Exodus 20:16 ESV - You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
• Proverbs 12:22 ESV - Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.
• Proverbs 11:13 ESV - Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.
• Numbers 30:2 ESV  - If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

Being Trustworthy isn't merely about not telling lies. Gossiping is being untrustworthy toward those around you.  A major part of being trustworthy is the commitment to follow through on things you have promised to do.

A Scout's Own Service

A "Scouts Own" Service is an interfaith worship service, conducted on outings or at camp. In most cases, this is a situation where people of multiple denominations and faiths will be present. Effort should be taken to make sure that the service does not only reflect one specific faith or tradition, It should be something that is as inclusive as possible.

A large number of troops typically schedule these on Sunday mornings, to make up for the fact that they are keeping their scouts from their worship services at their regular church.

From the BSA training Materials:

It is not necessary to attempt to account for the sensitivities of every conceivable religion on Earth; rather, seek to account for those religions whose members reasonably might be expected to be present.

My rule of thumb is to be as inclusive reasonably possible. For example, if you know all the scouts in a particular patrol or troop are of various Christian denominations, it would be fine to reference Jesus in a prayer. However, if it is a larger group, and there may be people of non-Christian backgrounds there, try to be as sensitive as possible, and avoid putting them in an uncomfortable situation, while still respecting their faith.

Some faiths ask that it's members do not participate in interfaith worship services, and it is important to remember that. No Scout should ever feel forced to participate in an interfaith worship service, particularly when it violates the tenets of his own faith.

Before asking a Scout or Leader to run one of these services, make sure they are aware of some of these potential pitfalls. The BSA website has the outline of a training course for this, and I think it is something that would be very useful for troops and local districts to educate it's scouts and scouters about.

Scouting a a tool for Church growth (Part 3)

In Part one, I talked about how a scouting program can bring young families into the church building itself every week. Remember, odds are 50% or more of those families do not have a church home right now.

In part 2, I talked about getting congregation volunteers who could help within the scouting program. This allows the scouts and their families to get to know members of the congregation.

I'd like to emphasize here, that there will be quite a few families that do already have a home church. If so, that's great. I don't think any of us want to try to pull people away from other churches where they already attend. But we do still want to make people welcome, both those with and those without a church they call home.

Part 3: Work with leaders inside the scout unit to emphasize the Religious Emblem programs.  The BSA and GSUSA both recognize a number of different recognition programs from various faiths. These programs are administered by the local churches, and not by the scouting unit itself.

I'm most familiar with the PRAY (God and Country) Series of awards, because I am in a Methodist Church. A number of Protestant Churches utilize these awards.

To see some of the awards used by other faiths or other Christian denominations, view one of the following lists.

Boy Scout Recognized Religious Emblems

Girl Scout Recognized Religious Emblems

Encourage your scouts of all faiths to work on the religious award program that their particular church follows. Give them information about the programs available based on their faith. Make a big deal about recognizing scouts who complete these programs.

And if they don't happen to have a home church they attend... Conveniently enough, your own church is already planning to hold classes for youth who want to earn those Religious Emblem awards. I would advise involving the non-scouting youth from the congregation as well for these programs, while also inviting non-members from the scouting programs.

Again, this will require some time from congregation volunteers, and also some time from the pastor of the church to run these programs. It's not a trivial task, and does require significant preparation and planning.

Ok, so you have young families, you have gotten to know them well, and they have even asked the church to lead their kids in a religious education class outside of scouts. I can't think of a better time to invite them to church on Sunday, Vacation Bible School, Church Youth Group, or any other church related activity you can think of.

A few words of caution:


Religious Emblem classes should NOT be done as part of regular scout meetings.    This should be done outside of those meetings, because a number of boys will want to attend the class of their own faith at their own church.

There's a distinction here between Outreach and Evangelism. While the scouting program is an outreach into the community, it is essentially non-denominational and non-sectarian. The Religious Emblem program however is specific to the faith of your church. Make sure the parents understand the distinction, even if the kids may not.



(Note: I borrowed heavily from Mark Hazelwood's Webinar Presentation for PRAY program for this.)

Scouting a a tool for Church growth (Part 2)

Yesterday, I talked about how a scouting program can get young families who may not have a church home into the church building. How do go from the families coming there for scouting to the point where families attend on Sundays?

Just being inside the church building is not enough. They may know their way around the facility, know where the restrooms are and where their kid's scout group meets. But, the church is not the facility your congregation meets in, the church is the congregation itself.

Before a family feels like they know the church, they have to know the people inside the church. That means volunteers. I can guarantee that the best people for the job are already busy doing things inside the church. If you have someone who is great at working with elementary school kids, they are probably already a Sunday School teacher at that level. If you have someone who is great at working with middle school kids or teens, they are probably already highly involved with the youth group.

In order to get the best people for the job, it might be necessary to ask some people to change their volunteer role in the church, or to take on additional responsibilities.

Work with the Leaders in the Scout Group to find out what areas they might need help with. Most scout units only look at the parents of kids to become leaders, and I don't know of any scout pack or troop that says "We have all the volunteers we need". They will be very welcoming of church members who offer to help.

If someone has experience working with younger kids, working as a Cub Scout Den Leader or Daisy/Brownie Leader would be ideal. If they are better at working with older kids, there may be something in the Boy Scout Troop, Venturing Crew, or a Junior/Cadette/Senior/Ambassador GS troop that would fit them best. And if they aren't great at working with Kids, there are a number of administrative/committee positions that I'm sure the leaders could use a hand with.

Many church members will say they don't know the first thing about scouts. That's fine. Most parents don't know it either when they signup to be leaders. The BSA and GSUSA programs have excellent training opportunities that can show church members what that particular scouting program is all about, and how to be a great leader.

The point isn't merely to get the church volunteers involved in Scouting. That's a great side benefit, but the main reason for this is to let these young families get to know the church congregation as people, feel comfortable around them, and

Now you know them... What next? That's in Part 3.


(Note: I borrowed heavily from Mark Hazelwood's Webinar Presentation for PRAY program for this.)

Scouting a a tool for Church growth (Part 1)

 One thing you will never hear at Church:

"We have too many young families with kids."

Most congregations in the US are significantly older than the community around them. The US Congregational Life Survey shows that the average congregation in the US has a median age of 52. That means that half the congregation is 52 or older. I know it's true in my church. I'm in my late 30s, what's left of my hair is starting to turn grey, and I've already got one heart attack in my medical charts. I'm considered one of the young adults in the church.

How can Scouting address this?

When a boy or girl joins scouting, they are thinking about outdoor adventure, games, crafts, and a lot of fun stuff. But why do their parents bring them to scouts, instead of other organizations or activities? The answer is values. These parents are usually looking for their sons and daughters to learn some moral values, which the BSA and GSUSA have been known for for generations.

Your average Cub Scout Pack is around 32 boys. That means you have 32 families there in your church every week. Most of those families are there because they want their son to grow up with good character and values.

In the US, Somewhere between 50 and 60% of families do not have a home church. That means in your church's basement and Sunday School rooms, for an average sized pack, you have about 16 young families with children who do not currently have a home church, but hold moral values as something highly important to them.

These are the ideal people that your church should be reaching out to. But how?

I'll talk about that in a few days

(Note: I borrowed heavily from Mark Hazelwood's Webinar Presentation for PRAY program for this.)

My Promise, My Faith

Girl Scouts at all levels can earn the My Promise, My Faith Award

The details of the requirements vary slightly based on level, as a girl goes from Daisy to Ambassador. The Nation's Capital Council has the requirements at each level posted here.

The basic outline at each level is

1. Pick a line from the Girl Scout Law.
2. Interview a woman in your own or another faith-based community.
3. Find three inspirational quotes by women that fit with that line of the Girl Scout Law.
4. Make something, like a drawing, painting, or poster.
5. Make a commitment to live what you've learned. 

It is designed to be earned multiple times, there are different patches that can be awarded each year the girl is involved in Scouting.

This is a great opportunity for women who attend a church to reach out and become involved with the Girl Scout troops that meet there.

The "God and Me" Program Grades 1-3

A large number of religious groups offer Religious Emblem programs for the youth in their congregation. The PRAY series of awards is used by a large number of protestant denominations.

The God and Me award is one of four awards in the God and Country series. It is age appropriate is for 1st - 3rd graders.

For Cub Scouts that would be Tiger, Wolf or Bear Cubs. For Girl Scouts, that would be the 2nd year of Daisies - Brownies. Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts can wear this medal on their uniform.

Please note, that this program is not only for Scouts, it is appropriate for all youth of these ages. Many churches, open the participation in this program to all age appropriate youth in the congregation.

A Brief overview of the program can be found here.

The following is a partial listing of the denominations that use the P.R.A.Y. program: African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Assembly of God, Baptist, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Methodist Episcopal, Church of God, Episcopal, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, and Independent Christian churches.

Where does religion come into Scouting?

When asked where religion came into Scouting and Guiding, Robert Baden- Powell, the founder of Scouting replied:

"It does not come in at all. It is already there. It is a fundamental factor underlying Scouting and Guiding."

Just as with other values in Scouting, faith is a core principle. It is not a piece of gear that we only pull out of our backpack on Sunday mornings during a worship service, or once a year during scout Sunday. That doesn't mean that we should be holding talks on theological principals during a backpacking trip. But when working with your scouts and planning your program, remember that faith has a part there too.

Have you encouraged boys to lead grace before meals? Have you asked boys to step up as a chaplain's assistant as a position of responsibility within the troop? Does your troop pack up and get out of camp early and skip the scout's own service on Sunday mornings? If a scout wandered over to the adult tents, is it possible they might catch some language they probably shouldn't hear?

I know I'm not perfect at this by any means, but I'd encourage you to make sure you are setting an excellent example for your scouts, and make sure the program in your unit makes room for God, and not just when they say the Scout Oath.

Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Interfaith Scouting

Abdul-Rashid Abdullah, a Muslim Scoutmaster, talks about some of the challenges and opportunities faced by Islamic Boy Scouts in this Scouting Magazine Article. I was especially interested in the description of a joint pinewood derby with Jewish and Islamic Packs.


One of the Assistant Den Leaders in our Pack was Muslim, but unfortunately, they had to move away partway through his son's first year in the pack, so I never got a chance to get to know their family well.

Scouting as a Church Outreach Program

Many churches look at scouting as an "outside group" that comes in to borrow the church's facilities.

Personally, I think this is a mistake. I think of supporting scout units as away to welcome members of the community into the doors of the church, and show them that they feel welcome there.

A few years ago I spoke at our church's Scout Sunday service. My opening was:

If our church had 100 kids suddenly show up for Sunday School, everybody in the church would be amazed. If we had 100 kids show up for Vacation Bible School, that would be an great crowd for us. What an opportunity for ministry that would be.

Did you realize that every week, we have over 100 youth show up for either Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, or Girl Scouts? That’s over 100 scouts, plus their families who are impacted by our church’s scouting ministries, each week.

Many mainline congregations in the US are facing dwindling numbers, and a rapidly aging congregation. The families that a Scouting program can bring into your church as visitors are generally going to be young families with kids. That age range is often very difficult for a church to reach out to, because they are so busy.

Sure, you could have someone blanket the neighborhood with door-hangers to invite someone to church, but wouldn't a friendly greeting as they are bringing their kids into a scout meeting be much more effective? If you were new to an area, or seeking a Church family to join, how would you rather be approached?

Encourage people at your church to look at the scouting families as potential new members, not as people who meet there on Thursday evenings.

Service Projects at your Church

One of the areas that I've seen many scouts give back to a church is via a service project. Recently, one of the Scouts in our church's troop completed a service project where they put landscaping around our church's new sign.

I know of a number of churches in the area that have an outdoor shelter, or a renovated handicap ramp, or some other item that has been done as part of a service project by scouts. Many people think of service projects largely as an Eagle Project or a Gold Award Project. But why wait for then?

There's no reason that younger scouts can't participate in a food drive to help a church's food pantry, or go visit  church shut-ins, or even plant flowers at the church at a den meeting. Look at the activities your scouts are encouraged to do for advancement, and I bet there's something that can be done to benefit the church your scouts meet at. Doing so will let the scouts see the benefits of their service work each week when they show up for their weekly meetings, and also help foster better relations between the church and the scout unit.

United Methodist Men webcast on Scouting.

Last night I attended a webcast put on by the UMM committee on scouting. The presenter was the head of the group that runs the PRAY series of religious emblems, also known as the God and Country program.
It had a lot of great information about how a church can use scouting and a religious emblems program to attract young families. I'll be sharing a lot of that information here over the next few days.

Girl Scout Sponsorship Agreement

In a previous post, I talked about the way the BSA operates via a chartering system. The Girl Scouts handle their scout units in a very different way.

Girl Scout Troops are sponsored by an organization. A large number of these sponsors include religious organizations, civic groups, etc. However, unlike the BSA model, the sponsor does not own the troop.

The Sponsoring organization is asked to

• Adhere to national and local Girl Scout policies and be guided by Standards of Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. (See Girl Scout policies on reverse side).
• Publicize the activities of the Girl Scout troop/group to its employees/members.
• Offer meeting rooms and provide goods and services.
• Ask members to share hobbies and special interest with the Girl Scout troop/group when requested by the leader.

Here is an example of a chartering agreement for a girl scout troop, from my local GS council. Agreements may vary widely from one council to another.

Unlike the BSA, there is no request for any sort of troop committee, etc. Although the troop and sponsoring group are encouraged to support each other in a number of ways, it is not nearly as formal as the chartering model used by Boy Scouts.

All GS troops are asked to include girls from the community, and they do not generally allow troops where all members come from within the sponsoring organization. Some examples from the sponsorship agreement linked above:

• Admission to Troops/Groups. A girl who meets or can meet membership requirements shall not be denied admission to any troop/group because of race, creed, nationality, or socio-economic factors or handicap (special need).
• Troops/Groups Sponsored by Religious Groups. When a Girl Scout troop/group is sponsored by one religious group, members of different faith or religious affiliation within the troop/group shall not be required to take part in religious observance of the sponsoring group.

For a church that sponsors both Boy Scout and Girl Scout units, it is important to understand the differences between them and the way they function.

Tiger Cub - Character Connections: Faith

Character Connections - Faith

• Know: Discuss things about the weather that you know to be true, but you cannot see at the moment, such as is the sun still there although you only see clouds? Is the moon there, even though it is day? Can you see wind? Do you know that the rain will eventually stop? Do you have faith in other things you can't see?
• Commit: What makes it difficult to believe in things you cannot see? What helps you to develop faith?
• Practice: Do requirement 5F. (Go outside and watch the weather)

Tiger cubs are among the youngest of scouts. an in depth conversation about faith would be a difficult one for them to handle. This requirement is an excellent one for them to work on with a parent, and it gives the parent an opportunity to discuss the family's faith with their son.

A bible verse that a parent may want to refer to in this conversation is: 

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." -  Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

What is a Chartering Organization?

The Boy Scouts of America relies on a "Chartering Organization" model for each of it's units. A Chartering Organization could be a business, a civic group like the VFW, or an educational institution, like the PTA of a local school. However, a large number of these chartering organizations (Almost 70%) are religious institutions.

The BSA has some statistics here about what kind of groups charter units.

Each chartering organization agrees to serve families and youth via their scouting program.

Some organization focus primarily on serving the current members of their group. Examples might include the LDS Church, who uses the Cub Scout / Boy Scout Programs as an integral part of their church's youth program, or a Private School that operates a Pack that is open only to boys who attend that school.

The majority of units serve the larger community, meaning that boys from families outside the organization are welcome to join. Particularly for religious chartering organizations this can lead to some confusion where religious advancements are concerned, as you may frequently have a situation where a unit meeting at a United Methodist church  has boys from families who attend Catholic, Baptist, or even Muslim or Buddhist houses of worship. I'll get into this in more detail in later posts.

The Chartering Organization agrees to 

• Conduct Scouting in accordance with its own policies and guidelines as well as those of the BSA.
• Include Scouting as part of its overall program for youth and families.
• Appoint a chartered organization representative who is a member of the organization and will represent it to the Scouting district and council, serving as a voting member of each.
• Select a unit committee of parents and members of the organization who will screen and select unit leaders who meet the organization's leadership standards as well as the BSA's standards.
• Provide adequate and secure facilities for Scouting units to meet on a regular schedule with time and place reserved.
• Encourage the units to participate in outdoor experiences.

In my personal experience, I find that a large number of Chartering Organizations primarily focus on providing meeting facilities, and assume the rest of it will be taken care of by parents inside the unit. This often leads to a unit that is poorly supported.

About the Author

I'm a dad of a Webelos scout, 2 Soon to be Tiger Cub Scouts and a Daisy Scout. I'm married to a Girl Scout Troop Leader. I'm Cubmaster for the Pack, and Chartered Organization Rep for our Troop. 


We only started attending our church after our oldest son became involved in Cub Scouts. We had been looking for a home church for a long time, and the one my son attended on Thursdays for scouts became the one our whole family attends on Sundays.

About this Blog

The 12th part of the Boy Scout Law reads: 

A Scout is Reverent. A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others.

Most of the content on this blog will be about ways to build the relationship between a church and the scout groups at that church.  As a scouter and a church member, my biggest mission lately has been to improve that relationship at our local church as chair of my own church's scouting committee.

In many churches, scouting units are looked upon as merely an "outside group" that meets at the church one night a week. I believe that this is a mistake for most congregations, who are missing the opportunity to perform a valuable outreach ministry into the community by supporting their scout groups. It is also a lost opportunity for the scout groups, who can often miss the opportunity to find mentors, service opportunities and support from within the congregation.