Thursday, August 01, 2013
Thinking about churches and Boy Scouts
There has been a great deal written and said lately about what churches should do if they have been sponsoring Boy Scout troops. Now that the Scouts have an official position of one particular sin that runs contrary to Scripture, many churches are trying to decide what to do.
In the interest of full disclosure, I was not a Boy Scout and neither was my son. Southern Hills does sponsor a troop and we are in the midst of making a decision about this. So let me be clear, I am not stating the position of Southern Hills. You are getting Ridgell's opinion. And this is the way I would decide this for Southern Hills, but since no one has made me Pops or Ruling Bishop...
Of course a church should not sponsor of endorse an organization that holds a position contrary to God.
But here is a bigger question, why is a church sponsoring a civic organization anyway?
Shouldn't the church be involved in church business?
And Scouting is not church business. Neither are civic clubs, or youth organizations.
Nothing wrong with many of these organizations, but they are not about gospel. They may promote good morals and they may do some good things in our communities.
But if these things are not done in the name of Jesus, I have a hard time understanding how the church should be involved.
The church is not about making better citizens. I would argue the church is not about doing good deeds. The church is not even about good morals.
The church is about Jesus. When you are about Jesus, you become a good citizen (of any country), you do good things, and you have good morals. But those things without Jesus are not church business. It is not just a matter of the cart before the horse... it is a matter of a cart with no horse.
That would be like feeding the hungry somewhere, or building a house for someone, and calling it a mission trip when no one even talks about Jesus. But that's probably a rant for another time.
Let's not forget the mission. It is about Jesus.
So about the Boy Scouts. I don't think the church has any business sponsoring a troop anyway. Not our business and not our job.
In the interest of full disclosure, I was not a Boy Scout and neither was my son. Southern Hills does sponsor a troop and we are in the midst of making a decision about this. So let me be clear, I am not stating the position of Southern Hills. You are getting Ridgell's opinion. And this is the way I would decide this for Southern Hills, but since no one has made me Pops or Ruling Bishop...
Of course a church should not sponsor of endorse an organization that holds a position contrary to God.
But here is a bigger question, why is a church sponsoring a civic organization anyway?
Shouldn't the church be involved in church business?
And Scouting is not church business. Neither are civic clubs, or youth organizations.
Nothing wrong with many of these organizations, but they are not about gospel. They may promote good morals and they may do some good things in our communities.
But if these things are not done in the name of Jesus, I have a hard time understanding how the church should be involved.
The church is not about making better citizens. I would argue the church is not about doing good deeds. The church is not even about good morals.
The church is about Jesus. When you are about Jesus, you become a good citizen (of any country), you do good things, and you have good morals. But those things without Jesus are not church business. It is not just a matter of the cart before the horse... it is a matter of a cart with no horse.
That would be like feeding the hungry somewhere, or building a house for someone, and calling it a mission trip when no one even talks about Jesus. But that's probably a rant for another time.
Let's not forget the mission. It is about Jesus.
So about the Boy Scouts. I don't think the church has any business sponsoring a troop anyway. Not our business and not our job.
Comments:
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It would seem if you isolate yourself from the community by not involving yourself in civic organizations you loose many opportunities to show God's work in you.
If you could not speak,or write, how would you "talk" about Jesus?
If you could not speak,or write, how would you "talk" about Jesus?
You have a good point. I am big on church in community: helping in schools, feeding, etc. I even like members being in PTA, little league, even scouts. But not liking the church sponsoring things that aren't church. But as always, thanks for making me think thru my stuff better. :). Love you and enjoy at least keeping up this way.
Steve, I think you are right. I don't think church should be supporting, monetarily, civic organizations. On the other hand, if a congregation is going to spend big money to build and maintain a large and expensive building, it ought to be a place where "community" happens more than twice a week. The local community and members should be regularly using it as a place to be involved in each others lives. It's in those times that Jesus will be shared.
If a civic organization wants to have regular meetings there, then they should be expected to pay to keep the lights on. In my opinion, a "church building" is a building and is not somehow "holier" than say the Civic Center. The elders/congregation should have some guidelines as to what will and won't be allowed, but I think it should be relatively open.
A few guidelines I might suggest for what events should be allowed:
-Is Jesus allowed to be discussed? (required condition)
-Does the gathering put people in each others live in a way that will facilitate Jesus being shared? (required condition)
-Does it help the outcasts of society hear about Jesus and get basic needs met?
-No violence is to be advocated..ever!! (required condition)
-No one is excluded on basis of social class, ethnicity etc. (required condition)
I'm still working out my thoughts on this, but I think this is the direction I would go.
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If a civic organization wants to have regular meetings there, then they should be expected to pay to keep the lights on. In my opinion, a "church building" is a building and is not somehow "holier" than say the Civic Center. The elders/congregation should have some guidelines as to what will and won't be allowed, but I think it should be relatively open.
A few guidelines I might suggest for what events should be allowed:
-Is Jesus allowed to be discussed? (required condition)
-Does the gathering put people in each others live in a way that will facilitate Jesus being shared? (required condition)
-Does it help the outcasts of society hear about Jesus and get basic needs met?
-No violence is to be advocated..ever!! (required condition)
-No one is excluded on basis of social class, ethnicity etc. (required condition)
I'm still working out my thoughts on this, but I think this is the direction I would go.
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