LDS Religious Emblems

The LDS Church has multiple religious emblem programs. The Faith in God Award for Cub and Webelos Scouts, and the On My Honor award for Boy Scouts, Venturers and Varsity.

On My Honor Award

Faith in God Award

On My Honor Adult Recognition

 

LDS Venture Crews

On his 16th Birthday, a boy in the LDS can join a Venture Crew. For non-LDS scouts, the age range is 14-21.

Again, as with the other levels, a significant amount of religious instruction is included within their version of the program, as it is used as their young men's ministry program.

Next, I will discuss the LDS Religious Emblems, which are designed to be age appropriate, and work with the boy's maturity levels from cub levels up thru their days on a Venture Crew.


More detailed information about the LDS Boy Scout program is available here.

LDS Varsity Teams

On his 14th Birthday, a boy involved in an LDS scout unit can move up to a Varsity Team. For non-LDS units, anyone 14-18 can be in a Varsity Team. In LDS Units, this is limited to the 14-15 year old ages.

The Varsity Program is available to non-LDS groups, but is used much more frequently within the LDS chruch than it is for non-LDS scouts.

Again, as with the other levels, a significant amount of religious instruction is included within their version of the program, as it is used as their young men's ministry program.

As with all Varsity Scouts, as long as the boys have earned their first class rank in the Boy Scout Troop, they can continue on their progression to Eagle until their 18th birthday.


More detailed information about the LDS Boy Scout program is available here.

LDS Boy Scouting

On his 11th birthday, a boy joins the Troop, and is a member of the 11 year old patrol. This patrol is handled quite differently than the way non-LDS troops would run a First Year Scout program.

First, the boys are only allowed to camp 3 nights during the year, enough to meet the requirements for their first class rank. Each trip should be a one night trip, and is held separate from the rest of the troop. In other activities, including weekly meetings, the 11 year old patrol would meet separately from the remainder of the troop, and would not participate in most normal events, with the exception of Court of Honor ceremonies, etc.

When he turns 12, he can become a part of a patrol within the larger part of the troop. Administratively, this may seem unusual to non LDS members, but a large amount of significance is placed on the 12th birthday within that church, thus their reasoning behind the way the 11 year old patrol is handled separately from the rest.

At ages 12-13, they are members of the troop, and for the most part other than the prohibition about travelling to/from campsites on Sundays, there are not a lot of major differences for boys in an LDS troop.

More detailed information about the LDS Boy Scout program is available here.

LDS Cub Scouting

There are a few differences between LDS Packs and Non-LDS Packs.

• LDS Packs have boys move up based on age, not school year.
• At 8, you become a Wolf
• At 9 you become a Bear
• At 10 you become a Webelos
• At 11, you transition into a Boy Scout troop.
• There is no Tiger Cub Program
• Cub Scouts and Webelos do not have any overnight camping trips other than Family Camping Trips
• No travel to or from camping trips will occur on Sundays. (Most will pack up Saturday evening.)

More on the LDS's Troop Level program tomorrow

LDS Church and Scouting

In a previous post, I mentioned how the Mormon Church (Also referred to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or LDS) utilizes the Boy Scout Program as an integral part of their church's youth ministry. This Pamphlet talks about some of the details about the LDS-BSA relationship.

Within the LDS, Packs, Troops, Teams and Crews are sponsored by the church, and religious education is offered alongside the typical scouting program.

The LDS Church sponsors more BSA units than any other organization, 37,928 as of 2010.

This week, I'll be discussing some of the distinctive aspects of the LDS's Scouting program, and how it may differ from non-LDS units.

Disclaimer: I'm a Methodist, who is not fully familiar with the LDS Scouting Program. If I get any details wrong, I apologize. Please correct me if you notice any errors and I will correct them ASAP.