Scouting for God
In the Roanoke-based Blue Ridge Mountains Council, 59 percent of Boy Scout units have religious affiliations.
By Rob Johnson
981-3234
The ties between Robert Mazzuca, the new chief executive of the Boy Scouts of America, and the likes of 15-year-old Matt Hoyle, who leads Bonsack-based Troop 584’s quest for religious knot badges, are growing stronger.
Mazzuca, who visited Roanoke on Thursday for a Scout fundraiser, is well aware that while overall membership in Scouting is falling, the number of church-chartered units is on the rise.
“Scouting is flourishing among the churches, and we’re aiming at more partnerships with some in particular, evangelicals for example,” Mazzuca said.
“Our strongest partners nationally are religious organizations.”
Matt’s role underscores how churches and Scouting find a kindred spirit in each other.
His troop meets Tuesday nights at Bonsack United Methodist Church. Before the brown-and-olive uniformed regulars assemble in the gym, some attend Matt’s Bible study class, where completion of the “God and Life” student workbook is the path to the coveted religious knot, an embroidered silver and purple award worn above the uniform’s left pocket. “This is a way we get closer to God, being active in Scouts and at church,” he said.
Scouting is finding a needed refuge of sorts in churches. That’s largely because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2000 that backed the nonprofit organization’s right to ban gays from its ranks. The Scouts’ opposition to homosexuality on moral grounds prompted the widespread withdrawal of permission for troops and Cub Scout packs to use schools and other public facilities, and support from many civic groups and charities dried up.
Despite their motto, “Be prepared,” Scout leaders weren’t ready for the backlash. “For years the Scouts have been synonymous with mother, apple pie and lemonade. Then you wake up one morning facing issues you aren’t familiar with,” Mazzuca said. To recover their membership momentum, Scouting is focusing a constituency whose welcome hasn’t weakened.
More churches — particularly in the growing ranks of evangelicals — are finding that hosting Scout groups raises their community profile. A message on the marquee of Penn Forest Worship Center in early February proclaimed, “Welcome Scouts. Always be Prepared — For Eternity.”
The pastor there, Myron Atkinson, even held a “Scout Sunday” on Feb. 3. “Our attendance doubled,” he said. “I geared the entire service towards the Scouts.”
To be sure, Scouting and churches are traditional allies. In 1915, 54 percent of the 7,000 or so pioneering troops in the United States were chartered by churches. Today, as U.S. Scouting approaches its 100th anniversary in 2010, churches hold 62 percent of the charters. In the Roanoke-based Blue Ridge Mountains Council, 59 percent of Scout units have religious affiliations.
There’s no obligation for Scouts to attend or join churches that sponsor them. Howard Wilson, scoutmaster at Penn Forest Worship Center’s Troop 418, said, “We haven’t felt any pressure. I’m sure Pastor Atkinson knows that welcoming the Scouts and their families is an opportunity to grow his church. But he has opened the church gym to us as a community meeting place.”
While for decades the Scouts grew fastest among larger mainstream denominations, including Roman Catholics, Methodists and Mormons, lately their popularity is rising faster among evangelicals and independent community churches. “Our growth pretty much follows that of the denominations. We’re not seeing increases among the Methodists and some of the other mainstream groups,” said Don York, director of relationships at Scout headquarters in Irving, Texas.
York keeps a close eye on church growth, and the slump in troop chartering that has accompanied membership declines in certain denominations is noticeable. “They close a church and we close a Scout troop.”
One denomination hungry for new Scout troops is the evangelical Churches of Christ. “We’re an almost untapped resource for Scouting. The sky is the limit,” said Kent Barnett, executive director of Scouting for the group, based in Abilene, Texas. “We have 13,000 churches nationwide, and less than 600 have Scout troops.” Barnett estimates than only three or four of the 16 Churches of Christ in the Roanoke area host Scouts.
Relatively conservative denominations such as Churches of Christ are perhaps especially receptive to Scouting, notwithstanding the controversy over gay rights. “Scout traditions are all Christian based. They share the moral values of our church,” Barnett said.
But it’s harder for the Scouts to recruit Barnett’s churches because the denomination has little central organization, and many of the churches are so small there’s no staff besides the pastor. “We’re a harder target for the Scouts to reach, but we’re out here,” Barnett said.
Mazzuca’s strategy to reach such congregations fits with the Scouts’ legendary penchant for hiking: the shoe leather approach. “We need to get our local council officials and volunteers out on more sales calls. Take our message right to the church door and be aggressive about sharing how our goals complement each other.”
Individual Scout units can put as much, or as little, emphasis on religion as they choose. Bible worship groups such as the one led by Matt Hoyle are optional, and the religious knot award isn’t required to attain Scouting’s highest rank, Eagle. But for those who do attend, daily Bible reading for three months is mandated, the workbook states, adding: “You may want to keep a written record or journal as well.”