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[Col. Flagg 908]

17 minutes ago, blw2 said:

Sadly, i think it's the other way around from their perspective, at least to a degree.  The pastor likes and verbally supports scouting, and I believe he would echo the same sentiments that I did, but basically the general 'machine' of the church "staff" sort of treats us as you put it "renters"..... We always seemed to have a lower standing when compared to youth and other uses of the building.... and we certainly never had our own room.   I never really understood that... I've honestly thought it comes from the catholic tradition...."think the stereo typical nun in an old catholic school"....mean and strict.  It's just the way they are.  Like a drill sergeant.  Anyway, in our case the COR was never engaged so that may have been a factor.

I think "Catholic units" have it a bit harder in this regard. For Protestants, my Scouter friends seem to be more successful in selling the inclusion of non-church members joining the unit. The thought is that maybe they will join the church anyway...assuming they are Christians and Protestants. Most Catholic units I know want the members to be Catholic. A few have it as Catholic only whereas with others it is just a suggestion.

Ironically our strongest advocate for the unit is Jewish. Loves the troop, the church, the CO and is always volunteering to help. The COR said, "If only several of our Catholic members were that energetic." 

[David CO 817]

5 hours ago, Col. Flagg said:

 

Way back when, our Pack was hosted by a church that really treated us like a burden too. They never really liked the Pack and treated every request as if we were begging at their doorstep. Then the membership policy changed in 2013 they dropped both the Pack and the Troop that were there.

In our area most churches treat BSA units like we are any other group renting their facilities. Only the Catholic units are seen as an extension of the church's ministry.

I think all CO's should see scouting as an extension of their youth ministry/youth program. 

[Col. Flagg 908]

26 minutes ago, David CO said:

I think all CO's should see scouting as an extension of their youth ministry/youth program. 

Totally agree. I wish that was the case. It might make many of our current problems easier to deal with.

[Tampa Turtle 1010]

We are a unit in a Methodist church and the pastor and the United Methodist Women (God bless them!) view as part of their (anemic) youth ministry. We invited him to a few meetings and holiday parties and makes a diplomatic appearance. He did a sterling job helping counseling the boys after a scout died. But, yes the church staff treats us like other groups 'renting' the space and we have had some mild hostility from pre-school staff that also uses the church property ( I think it is a little kids vs big kids thing) and the Methodist Men's club (who carp on us if we leave a hair out of place). 

On a side note we did invite the 70+ associate pastor to camp with us (he as an ex-scout and career military Chaplin). He came out camped with adults, avoided the boys, sneaked in some booze, and shared a tent with his girl friend (to our surprise since he drove himself). Of course it turns out neither had bothered to do the YPT (they both had been heavily vetted by the Methodist church for youth activities previously and thought they did not need it. (*sigh*) Another reason they stayed away from the youth. My experiment in adult association did not work out,

[Back Pack 430]

In our church the youth groups leave the common areas a shambles. When I was spl we got blamed a lot before I took over. We started taking before and after pictures of the meeting rooms and common areas just to show how clean we leave it. We sent them to the office manager to show her how well we were doing. Not one word of thanks. The youth groups were never told to be better either. This lasted the whole year. Half way through my term I also sent the reports to the head pastor. The committee chair didn’t like it but my sm supported me. The head pastor came to my last coh as spl to thank the troop and me for doing what we do. It didn’t change how the office staff treated us but we knew at least he appreciated our efforts. To this day the spls still send him the monthly pictures. 

[Eagledad 1460]

21 minutes ago, Back Pack said:

In our church the youth groups leave the common areas a shambles. When I was spl we got blamed a lot before I took over. We started taking before and after pictures of the meeting rooms and common areas just to show how clean we leave it. We sent them to the office manager to show her how well we were doing. Not one word of thanks. The youth groups were never told to be better either. This lasted the whole year. Half way through my term I also sent the reports to the head pastor. The committee chair didn’t like it but my sm supported me. The head pastor came to my last coh as spl to thank the troop and me for doing what we do. It didn’t change how the office staff treated us but we knew at least he appreciated our efforts. To this day the spls still send him the monthly pictures. 

We had a similar situation. Long long story short, we asked the church to look into the matter instead of just blaming our scouts for all the damages they where finding. The committee was upset because the ceiling tiles were being pushed out of place in their 40 foot tall meeting center. I understood their problem, it was a difficult task to find a ladder tall enough to replace the tiles. Turns out the teen Sunday School class boys would compete in slamming balls on the floor hard enough to see if they could bounce them to the ceiling. The other problem was the mystery of ceiling tiles and lights getting torn up in another room. Mystery solved, the Girls Scouts where scrapping the ceiling with their flag poles during opening and closing ceremonies.

The church committee was quite embarrassed and never bothered us again, even when our scouts might have been responsible for damage.

Barry

Edited February 6, 2018 by Eagledad