The Church is dropping Scouting

And the Lost Ten Tribes are living in a hole in the polar Ice-Cap, the Three Nephites will appear to help the BYU football team win the Utah game, and President Bush is taking the missionary discussions.  What is there to misunderstand when, for example, the Young Mens General President gives an interview with the Church News (20 September 2003 issue) and says that Scouting's future in the Church's young mens programs is secure, that Scouting is more relevant than ever, and that any notion that the Church is parting ways with Scouting is pure rumor?

There is nothing in the Scouting programs of worth for a boy who isn't interested in getting his Eagle, OR, once a boy has finished his Eagle, there is no need for him to continue being a part of a Scouting program. OR, there is nothing in Scouting for boys after about age 14, because they are no longer interested in merit badges.

These statements show an unfortunate lack of understanding regarding the role of advancement in Scouting and what Scouting is all about, and why the Church uses Scouting in its Aaronic priesthood programs. Advancement is only one of a number of methods within Scouting.  These methods together aim at helping young men develop in character, good citizenship, and in physical, emotional, and moral fitness.  When achieved, the Eagle rank is an outward sign of inward virtues and achieved capabilities.  Young men who understand the true spirit of the Eagle don't drop out of scouting when they obtain this rank. Rather, they begin to exercise a life-long commitment to give back to others the benefits they themselves have received from Scouting.

The older-boy Scouting programs (Varsity and Venturing) use different tools that fit in marvelous ways the needs and desires of older youth. That boys lose interest may well be because we are not implementing the older-boy programs very well.

The Scouting programs altogether (see the green Scouting Handbook of the Church) provide the substance for what should be a dynamic six year activity and learning program that is part and parcel of the Church's efforts to develop Aaronic Priesthood young men into strong adult priesthood holders.  In fact, ages 14-18 have been shown to be the most critical time for a young Aaronic Priesthood holder to have support of strong Aaronic Priesthood advisors and programs and the time when these Church leaders can have increasing influence for good on the individual young man, according to the Church's own research.  This is not the age group for adult leaders in the Church to become faint of heart and abandon their efforts to sponsor inspiring and growth-promoting programs for their young men.

Older boys have jobs, cars, and girl friends and aren't interested in (or are too busy for) Venturing

Our experience contradicts this. When a high-quality Venturing program is offered to Young Men by trained and committed leaders as an integral part of the Priests quorum program, our young men love it and make significant room for it in their lives.

Scouting is only for boys who don't have a lot of other things going for them in their lives, such as leader positions at school, musical or performance talents, athletic skills, etc.

All of the above are worthy activities and may have a useful place in a young man's experience, but how can they be compared with training a young man to give priority to associations and activities that are connected to his priesthood quorum. An earlier Aaronic Priesthood manual taught the principle that  "Next to his family, the most important associations in life for a young man should be those in his priesthood Quorum." Leaders and parents short-change a young man when they reinforce the importance of other activities compared to those of his Quorum, and may be helping him establish a set of life-long priorities that will reduce his commitment to the Church.

The Church cannot use Venturing because it allows girls to be members

Allowing girls to join has been a BSA option for Venturing and its predecessor program, Exploring, for many years. And for many years the Church has used these programs with the policy of only registering boys. The Scouting Handbook makes the Church's policy clear, to not involve girls in Scouting programs but to utilize Primary and Young Women programs to meet the needs and interests of girls and young women (1997 edition, p. 5).  It doesn't seem to bother Church leaders that BSA allows that option for Venturing. Neither does it bother BSA that as we operate Venturing programs we don't do it.

Soon the courts will force Scouting to use homosexual leaders, and then the Church will have to pull out of Scouting

This statement displays a misunderstanding of how organizations relate to Scouting in this country and how persons become scouting leaders. BSA creates the programs, but does not run them.  Other organizations, such as churches, apply to BSA and receive charters to use the programs.  Chartered organizations such as our wards select the leaders themselves.  BSA gives some oversight regarding leaders selected to make sure that felons, child abusers, and others who might put youth at risk, are NOT allowed to work with youth as Scouting leaders.  But beyond that it is unimaginable that BSA would tell our Bishops specific persons that we would have to use as we operate our scouting programs. It is even more unimaginable, even if BSA were to allow it, that any Bishop would deliberately call a homosexual person to a position of youth leadership.

The latest Church handbooks say that registering Scout troops and Varsity teams are required but Venturing is optional.  That must mean that Venturing is not important.

It is intended that the activity program for members of a ward priests quorum be a weekly program in connection with Mutual for all young men and young women (Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 2, Section 2 Aaronic Priesthood, 1998, 186-187).  Activities for quorum members are to be planned by quorum [youth] leaders and their advisors (Handbook, 186), except for the weeks when activities for combined groups are held (generally about once a month).  In the United States for some years, the activity programs for the three quorums of the Aaronic Priesthood have been the BSA Scouting programs: a Scout Troop for Deacons, a Varsity Team for Teachers, and a Venturing Crew for Priests (Scouting Handbook, 1997, 3).  "In areas where the Church has approved affiliation with Scouting [this includes all of the United States of America for the programs of the Boy Scouts of America], the Church endorses and sponsors Scouting for young men." (Handbook, 187)

Current policies state that the Scout Troop and the Varsity Team should be registered, but local leaders may opt out of Venturing under certain conditions:

 "…young men age 12 through 15 should be registered. Young men ages 16 and 17 should be registered when they are pursuing rank advancements or when stake presidents and bishops choose to sponsor Venturing Crews…for young men of this age…(Handbook, 187)

When opting out of registering a Venturing program, local leaders are expected to substitute a program that is "well-planned" and has some breadth in its range of activities ("spiritual", "social"):

"If wards choose not to participate in Scouting for priest-age young men, bishops and stake presidents make sure the programs for these young men are well planned, meet spiritual and social needs, and are consistent with the purposes of the Aaronic Priesthood." (Handbook, 187-188)

The Church Handbook of Instructions has of necessity been made to address a world-wide church, with a range of Scouting programs available in various countries, some good, some not so good, and some unacceptable or non-existent.  The size and strength of developing Church units also needs to be taken into account (L. Tom Perry, "Basic Unit Program", First Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, January 11, 2003) by local leaders in deciding how much of the Scouting programs to use.  However, being allowed some local discretion does not seem to us to be permission to do less than our best.

For full-size wards in the United States with at least four or five priests, it seems to us that there is very little reason for local priesthood leaders not to choose the established, nationally affiliated program of Venturing.  Venturing has well-developed tools for boy-led program and activity planning, breadth of program, built-in opportunities for leadership development, and many other supports including training resources. The chance of a few local leaders inventing a substitute program with all of these advantages is not very likely. (See discussion of Duty to God in relation to Venturing.)

Considering that of all the Aaronic Priesthood age-groups, priests are most likely to benefit from strong Aaronic Priesthood advisors and activity programs and are most at-risk for becoming less-active, Venturing may be the most important of all the BSA programs to register and use effectively.