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Statement by the United Methodist Church


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In an email I received today from the state Methodist conference it includes a notation that the UMC/BSA Affiliation and Facility Use agreements have been finalized as of December 15th. Final versions to be used going forward are on the methodistscouter.org website. I've read these several times and perhaps I missed it but I was struck by the high cap of $7.5 million per incident/$23 million total for general liability claims. 

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I'm the current Board of Trustees Chair for a UMC congregation that chartered a Troop for 101 years.  We also chartered a Cub Scout Pack and a Girl's Troop.  In the past, I served as Scoutmaster for t

The desire to be a CO is still there, but there are some issues that need to be addressed.  As a CO, you have been told for years that you are covered under an insurance policy only to find out you we

Thanks for the welcome and encouragement! I was SM and Committee Chair for the church-Chartered Scout Troop and CM and Committee Chair for the Pack. Currently, I'm Chair of the church Trustees an

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We and our "affiliated" Pack have found a new CO, the Episcopalian church a few doors down. For now at least we are under a facilities use agreement with our old UMC, but the plan is to move over to the Episcopalian church over time.

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4 hours ago, PACAN said:

I was just wondering 

how many are still meeting at their old UMC churches  (FUA)

how many were able to find new sponsors

how many are sponsored by their council 

how many unfortunately folded

We moved two troops and a pack to a local American Legion Post,  New COR is an Eagle from the Troop.  Aside from getting the right people to sign the right place and get all the paper work straight x 3 it was a pretty seamless endeavor.  We own our meeting place, so the facilities use agreement with the Methodist Church is to use their sanctuary for COH a couple of times a year and they have a big gym with a kitchen we use sometimes.

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"We own our meeting place, "

Not sure how that's works as the troop can own nothing as it a fully owned part of it charter partner.

I let some of the real lawyers here explain how that would be possible as the troop is not is own personality. all property belongs to the charter group or council if the group folds?

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I'm the current Board of Trustees Chair for a UMC congregation that chartered a Troop for 101 years.  We also chartered a Cub Scout Pack and a Girl's Troop.  In the past, I served as Scoutmaster for the Troop (among many other Unit, District, and Council positions) and my wife (a former Scout Office employee) acted as the COR for the church.  The Troops and Pack elected to execute an Affiliation Agreement with the church, with the Council acting as Chartering Organization.  The cutover process proved difficult due to the on-line Recharter web application's inability to process the new Affiliation Agreement cutover process.  Fortunately, one of my wife's superpowers is the ability to make heinously-designed web applications work.  Prior to the cutover, our church was one of the most conscientious COs you will find.  For the last 15 years or so, church members served as SM and/or ASM, with some youth from the church belonging to the units.  The Council, the new CO, is headquartered 100 miles away.  One of the BSA execs in Texas has been the acting SE for the Council for a couple of years, supported by an office employee who acts as registrar and administrative support for the Council.  The Council employs no DEs and is awaiting a shotgun marriage to an adjacent Council (or Councils).  There were only 2-3 UMC COs in the Council, so we don't have many peers.  Bottom line: the units traded a quality CO for the illusion of a CO.  Cool. 

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Interesting side note...

Gloversville, NY - Town stepped up to become Troop 7's new charter organization as the Foothills Methodist Church which had been CO for 60 years could no longer perform the duties.

“Basically, it’s (Troop 7) going to have to be completely redone from the ground up. Where it stands, they have three active Boy Scouts in it, and no troop committee, so we’re going to be starting-over new.”,  according to Town Clerk (and new COR) Jenni Mazur.  “We will be discussing giving them a meeting place within the city. This is going to be a combined thing where boys from Gloversville and Johnstown will be joining.” The city must pay a $75 annual fee and she and Mayor Vince DeSantis must undergo Boy Scouts of America certification training to serve on the newly reconstituted Boy Scout Troop 7 committee, which will consist of seven members.

More at source:

https://leaderherald.com/gloversville-local-news-johnstown-local-news/local-news/2023/01/gloversville-set-to-charter-boy-scout-troop-7/

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June 7, 2023:

Following text was extracted from article:

https://www.umnews.org/en/news/um-men-is-on-the-move

UM Men’s relationship with Boy Scout troops has also been overhauled in the aftermath of the settlement of abuse cases, and faith could take a larger role in Scouting programs. 

Boy Scouts

The United Methodist Church’s relationship with the Boy Scouts was imperiled when that organization entered child sex abuse-related bankruptcy proceedings, and the denomination agreed to contribute $30 million to a $2.4 billion fund to settle last year with more than 82,000 sexual abuse survivors. 

A new affiliation agreement was developed to define the roles and responsibilities of the players in local Scout troops — the national Boy Scouts organization, local churches and others. Insurance and indemnity responsibilities have been spelled out.

“Programmatically, we’re working on a program called The Shepherd Church,” said Steve Scheid, director for Scouting ministries. “You pay a little bit to help the United Methodist Men organization continue to develop resources, and we provide those. You don’t know how to help kids start to pray? We provide prayer templates that help you to be able to reach a broad audience with the connection through prayer.”

Other curriculum will be developed to complement with scouting activities like hiking, camping and rappelling, he said. 

“These devotionals directly connect to what you’re doing,” Scheid said. “So that (those) who are experiencing the rappelling experience, we talk about the word ‘trustworthy.’ I've got the rope. I've got you. If you slip and fall, I got you. How does that relate to God?’”

Edited by RememberSchiff
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3 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

we’re working on a program called The Shepherd Church,” said Steve Scheid, director for Scouting ministries.

Other curriculum will be developed to complement with scouting activities like hiking, camping and rappelling, he said. 

Would this be an addition to BSA Scout program OR instead of Scouts (BSA)?

3 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

“You pay a little bit to help the United Methodist Men organization continue to develop resources, and we provide those. You don’t know how to help kids start to pray? We provide prayer templates that help you to be able to reach a broad audience with the connection through prayer.”

Wonder who "You" is and who are you paying?

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3 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

…. You don’t know how to help kids start to pray? We provide prayer templates that help you to be able to reach a broad audience with the connection through prayer.”

… “So that (those) who are experiencing the rappelling experience, …’”

Please let the devotion be titled “What To Pray When You See Your Rope Fray!”

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1 hour ago, Jameson76 said:

Would this be an addition to BSA Scout program OR instead of Scouts (BSA)?

Wonder who "You" is and who are you paying?

Hopefully more knowledgeable members will provide answers, I have only guesses.

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