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Duty to God in Action service ideas


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I don't know why but I'm stuck on this one. It reads more like an individual act than a service project:

" Under the direction of your parent, guardian, or religious or spiritual leader, do an act of service for someone in your family, neighborhood, or community. Talk about your service with your family. Tell your family how it related to doing your duty to God."

Any ideas or suggestions for this? I've got a bunch of scouts that need to complete this requirement and not a whole lot of ideas to give them. And I'm interpreting this as something that should be viewed more as an individual act of service than a group   project thing. Not the usual picking up trash at the park kind of thing. Is that a reasonable assessment?

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3 hours ago, FireStone said:

I don't know why but I'm stuck on this one. It reads more like an individual act than a service project:

" Under the direction of your parent, guardian, or religious or spiritual leader, do an act of service for someone in your family, neighborhood, or community. Talk about your service with your family. Tell your family how it related to doing your duty to God."

Any ideas or suggestions for this? I've got a bunch of scouts that need to complete this requirement and not a whole lot of ideas to give them. And I'm interpreting this as something that should be viewed more as an individual act of service than a group   project thing. Not the usual picking up trash at the park kind of thing. Is that a reasonable assessment?

No, not a reasonable assessment.  Any act of service would fit the bill, as long as the Scout tells "...how it related to doing your duty to God."  For example, if the Scout (and parent or spiritual leader) sees picking up trash not only as a community service, but as an act of stewardship that is also his duty to God, then giddyup...

Service in a group can fit that bill also. 

I believe it is written that way to give the ultimate approval to parent or spiritual leader, because you, in no way, are to define those matters for the Scout.  A Scout's duty to God is solely up to him, his parents, and his religious leaders.

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I agree that the degree of the act of service is to be defined by the scout and spiritual leader. I would also note that the requirement does indicate the act is to be "for someone in your family, neighborhood..." so I would encourage the scout to identify the specific person for whom the service was for (even if they do not know the person's name). 

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13 hours ago, FireStone said:

Any ideas or suggestions for this? I've got a bunch of scouts that need to complete this requirement and not a whole lot of ideas to give them.

Without getting too deep into the theology, giving them the ideas might be counter productive in the long run. Giving them the task is like giving a poor man a fish. It would be better to teach them how to fish.

Rather, help the scouts discover their own ideas. From their viewpoint, who would really appreciate some help? With anything. If a scout knows someone that really hates all the trash on the ground then picking it up is great. Same goes for teachers and school supplies, parents and toys, elderly and snow/ice/newspapers. Are their other children that could use some help with stuff, school work, learning to hit a baseball, play jacks or just get invited over to play.

People have needs and where they can't fulfill them on their own is where there's an opportunity to be kind.

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Thanks everyone. I think I saw "service" and immediately jumped to ideas similar to our typical Cub Scout services projects. And not that those wouldn't necessarily qualify for this either, I just got thinking on this wrapped up in that more "standard" scenario. When in reality, and especially after reading the comments here, this needs to be viewed from a more personal spiritual perspective. I like the idea of presenting this as a question of who in the scout's life could use some help with something, and let them (with their parent and/or spiritual leader) answer that question.

That definitely helps. Thanks, everyone!

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