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What do I need for God & Me?


AnnLaurelB

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I gotz muh Bears, and we need to do our Emblems of Faith thingummy. I'm thinking Feb is a good time to do that over 3 Den meetings because the weather will be nasty, and we'll be stuck indoors.

 

I looked at scoutstuff.org, and I see the leader book and student books. One for everyone, of course.

 

What else would I need? I can't seem to find a peek-inside anywhere, and I don't know anyone who's done God & Me before.

 

Any tips?

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see praypub.org.

 

My God and Family experience last spring with 4th grade boys took 6 45-60 minute sessions. I'd be surprised if 3 1 hour long meetings would do it for the God and Me.

 

Ask the parents to look into if God and Me is appropriate. Their church should be able to advise.

 

It was a worthwhile project and even last week we had another good think happen because of the religious medal classes.

 

-- AK

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I'm a Wolf DL, and my son just earned 'Light of Christ', which is the Roman Catholic religious emblem award for Tigers and Wolves.

 

In going through the program with him (we don't have a religious emblem coordinator in the pack, and we aren't sponsored by a Catholic church), I learned a few important things. One of those is that the parent really needs to be on board with the religious emblem program; that it shouldn't be part of a regular den/pack activity. That's because not all of the boys are of the same faith, and you really can't and shouldn't put them through programs for a different faith (again, unless Mom and Dad approved...but that could be trouble down the line with the Priest/Deacon/Preacher who has to sign it off).

 

You could certainly offer a program on a different day/time than your den/pack meeting for interested boys to come work on it together, but I really wouldn't even try to take a mixed faith group through it.

 

On a side note, my cub pack growing up was 100% Catholic and sponsored by the Church, so we DID go work on Parvuli Dei together as Bears, but again...we were NOT mixed faith in the Den.

 

For your boy who is of a different faith community (JW?), I'd suggest having his folks talk with their Pastor about what he/she would suggest and support.

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""GOD (Do ONE of the following):

 

WAYS WE WORSHIP

Complete both requirements:.

>Complete the Character Connection for Faith

Know:.

>Name some people in history who have shown great faith. >Discuss with an adult how faith has been important at a particular point in his or her life.

Commit:.

>Discuss with an adult how having faith and hope will help you in your life, and also discuss some ways that you can strengthen your faith.

Practice:.

>Practice your faith as you are taught in your home, church, synagogue, mosque, or religious fellowship.

>Make a list of things you can do this week to practice your religion as you are taught in your home, church, synagogue, mosque, or other religious community. Check them off your list as you complete them.

 

EMBLEMS OF FAITH

Complete the requirement:.

Earn the Religious Emblem of your faith. ""

 

 

 

 

The Emblems of Faith is not an activity for the Den to do, UNLESS all the boys are of ONE faith and all the families agree to it.

Each faith has its own religious award, approved by the appropriate authority, and by definition needs to be taught and earned with and awarded by the faith organization, whether church, temple, mosque or synagogue. The Den Leader cannot fill that role appropriately, unless approved by the faith leader from that faith.

The Way We Worship, by rights, should be done and approved by the boy's family. The Den Leader can encourage and remind, but really should not attempt to lead this requirement without the family's agreement. To do so really sounds like overt evangelizing, which no Scout leader should ever be accused of.

If the leaders (priests, ministers, Deacons, Elders, whomever) of the various faiths represented in your Den look at the material in the God and Me material and find it in agreement with their dogma and are agreeable with you leading the Cubs thru the material, then go to it. But I consel not going ahead without that impimatur.

 

Refer any folks so interested to www.praypub.org for just about all faith info or reference. Some have their award listed, but not the "lesson" book, which must be obtained from the faith HQ.

Most local diocese,or district or whatever are aware of the Scout awards, but not all local clergy. Education is a good thing.

When in doubt about such things, defer to the parents, always.

Godspeed.

 

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The youth ministry advisor for our church worked with my son on his religious award when he was a Web not his WDL.

I would think the DL's job would be to make scouts aware of the program and direct them to their church or an advisor of the same faith if their church doesn't offer the program.

 

From the FAQ section of Religious Emblems Program on the BSA website:

"The religious emblems programs should be presented to youth members and their families as an optional program for them to complete through their religious organization. Religious instruction should always come from the religious organization, not from the unit leader. Parents need to be informed of these programs and told where to get the information for their particular faith."

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The religious medals are usually earned within the boys' own church. Be careful with it, because they ARE very specific to the religion they are for. So it is not a general "God like" type of thing. For instance, the God and Me (which is specifically for protestants - and I would guess most Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, and Presbytarians would be comfortable with it) program discusses specific Bible passages. It would not be really recommended for Jewish, Hindu, or Buddhist boy. The Catholics have also their own medal, and so do lots of other religions.

 

In addition, while I am pretty certain anyone can teach it, at the end of the whole thing it has to be sign off by a member of the religious order (i.e., priest, pastor, rabbi, etc)

 

Since we are a secular pack chartered by our school, we let the parents know about the God requirements and tell them they have to do them at home. We do pass along info if any church in the area is offering the program.

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This is NOT a den activity.

 

I would definitely have ALL of the boys (and especially the Jehovah's Witness) talk to their own spiritual leader/church about the religious emblem program.

 

These programs are created/run by the individual religious organizations to help their OWN youth reach a better understanding of their OWN faith.

 

Many of the religious organizations require the emblem counselor to be trained in some way. Most require that the religious leader of the youth go thru the booklet with the youth and approve his work.

 

 

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"In addition, while I am pretty certain anyone can teach it, at the end of the whole thing it has to be sign off by a member of the religious order (i.e., priest, pastor, rabbi, etc) "

 

Actually the information from BSA says specifically that it should not be taught by leaders.

 

From the Religious Emblems section on the BSA website:

"Religious instruction should always come from the religious organization, not from the unit leader"

 

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Just to be clear, the Religious Emblems programs are NOT BSA programs. They are adopted by and operated by the religious denominations. BSA merely allows the emblems to be worn on the uniform. Presentation of the emblems is normally done at the youth's church service by their religious leader, NOT presented by the UNIT at a Pack Meeting or Court of Honor. I would even go so far as to say, if the youth is not religiously active, they are probably NOT going to meet the requirements for the award.

 

This sums up the Scout Leader's role, and it is from the Praypub.org website:

Slide 10. Encourage the boys to talk to their parents and religious leaders about earning a religious emblem for their faith. Help the boys get started by setting a target date: Lets set our first goal together as a Pack. Id like everybody to talk to their parents and clergy about earning a religious emblem. Together decide whether or not you will earn your religious emblem, and if so, get the booklet and talk about setting up a schedule to earn it. At our next Pack meeting on ________ (date), I want to find out how many of you decided to earn your religious emblem. Even though this is a project that you will be doing with your family and clergy, I am interested in your progress and will encourage you to complete it.

 

 

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Alot of good answers here, but especially that it's not a Den Activity and it is done apart from Den Meetings. It's an optional program that is encouraged by the BSA but not required. You will need more that 3 meetings. From my experience, it took about 6 one-hour classes for the God and Me Award. Have one of the church leaders teach the class or someone delegated by them. In my situation, we had a Bible teacher in our church that was approved by our Pastor to lead the class.

 

We had boys in our class that were not active in any church take part in the program. We had the parents preview the materials to ensure they were okay with it.

 

This is not a quick "get 'er done" process and it should not be. When they receive their award, they will know that they really earned it.

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