Re: LDS Scouting
NeilLup@AOL.COM
Sun, 31 Jan 1999 10:24:20 EST
Some thoughts over years of Scouting with LDS leaders.
A year ago October, in an area far away from Boston where I now live, I had
the honor of serving on a Wood Badge staff where the Course Director was an
LDS bishop, a participant was another LDS bishop, and approximately 2/3 of the
participants and staff were LDS. I had the following observations.
1) It was a superb course, run precisely by the book. The LDS Scouters were
no less proficient in Leadership Skills, Outdoor Skills, ticket writing or any
of the other aspects of Scouting than any other really good Scouters that I
have known.
2) Our religious services were split into LDS and non-denominational.
However, this was not an unpleasant division at all. In fact, on the third
weekend, a number of LDS Scouters attended the non-denominational service and
a number of the rest of us attended the LDS service. We were made very
welcome, and I was quite pleased that in the LDS service there were no human
sacrificies or other untoward occurrances. :)
3) While occasionally during the course, there were questions asked about
whether the LDS Scouters would want or not want a particular thing, it was
much more from the point of view of Characteristics and Needs of the Group.
When one group comprises 2/3 of the course, their unique requirements should
be taken into account where possible.
Also, years ago, I was District Training Chairman for a district which was 60%
LDS and developed these principles for succeeding with LDS Scouters.
1) Learn and understand the policies and principles of LDS Scouting. For
example, we terminated all official events Saturday evening, had camporee
awards at the Saturday campfire, etc. Units could stay onto Sunday, but it
was unofficial.
We speculated on how we would deal with matters if we also had some Orthodox
Jewish units who were equally adamant about not camping on Saturday, but we
had no such units, and no complaints from parents or boys so the matter did
not arise. We did occasionally have complaints from non-LDS leaders of the
"why do we have to follow their schedule" type.
2) Get to know the Stake hierarchy. On one occasion, we were having poor
participation in district meetings, but a word to the Stake President solved
the problem.
3) Expect frequent turnover of leaders and some leaders which are not enthused
about being Scout leaders. We thought it was our job to try to convince these
reluctant leaders of the fun and value of Scouting. Some of the time we
succeeded.
4) Talk with LDS leaders about what they want and don't want. Don't expect
everyone fo be a Borg type robot controlled from Salt Lake City.
This latter point became particularly clear. The guidance concerning no
camping of men and women together came out during our WB course and we had
several LDS women on staff and as participants. There was a lot of
disagreement and anguish over this policy and how and to what extent it would
be interpreted and enforced.
There also was a suggestion of tension, particularly in the LDS hierarchy ,
over LDS leaders who had been Scouters for a long period of time and were
dedicated to the Scouting movement. The suggestion was that potential leaders
were divided by the hierarchy into "Scouter leaders who were Mormons" and
"Mormons who knew something about Scouting." The suggestion was that the
hierarchy was going away from the Scouter type leaders because they were more
inclined to consider Scouting for it own merits rather than , for LDS units,
strictly as the youth arm of the LDS church. There was even the suggestion
that Wood Badge trained leaders were being deselected for Scoutmaster and
other such positions because they had "gone over to the dark side."
I left soon after the course was over and cannot comment on whether this is
only the opinion of a few people or it is a generally felt tension.
But by and large, I have found LDS leaders and units to be not markedly better
or worse than non LDS leaders and units, considering their unique program and
characteristics. Certainly the strong affiliation of the LDS church with
Scouting, the large number of LDS youth, adults and units in the national
movement and the strong hierarchical structure of the LDS church and
willingness to use it to influence Scouting makes dealing with LDS units and
leaders a unique experience. However, it just represents another opportunity
to improve ones skills in Understanding the Characteristics and Needs of the
group.
Best wishes,
Neil Lupton
