Scout units in the United Methodist Church

[Buffalo Skipper]

Thanks all for the info. As there are allegedly 12,000 units chartered with the Methodist Church, I was a little surprised to at the response.

 

Are there any of you out there who have good strong relationships with your Methodist charters? I would very much like to hear more of your experiences....

[scoutingagain]

The unit I serve is also sponsored by the UMC. Gern's response would be mine.

 

We would like to have a stronger relationship with the Church, but the IH has changed 3 times in the last 5 years and each time we start the relationship from scratch.

 

They provide us a place to meet and store our equipment. We occaisionally do service projects for the Church but other than that there is little interaction. Our finances our run by the troop and there is no oversight or audits by the Church. Also, only one scout family out of about 20 - 25 are members of the Church.

 

SA

[John-in-KC]

The troop I described earlier has what I can only call a superior relationship. It helps that the unit leadership comes from the ranks of the church.

 

The bad news is it's hard to get into that unit as a Scouter if you're not a member of the church.

 

Since they have their 50-year Veteran bar they must be doing something right.

[packsaddle]

We have that bar and I can assure you it's mostly because of the non-church-member volunteers and not the CO. We still have plenty of things we could improve on.

[skeptic]

Our troop has been in the UMC basement of their current building since 1928, and we date to 1921. At one time, most of the boys were also member families. Now we are the only troop on the poor end of town, and have not had a church member in the troop for over 10 years, other than myself and a couple of adults on the charter. Two Eagles in past 3 years from the congregation, but other troops. They all live at the other end of the city, the higher income area, and so we are not convenient. They have always been supportive, but few members help anymore, other than give us donations. We can use the church van, the gym, and any other part if it fits the schedules. Have a new pack now, but so far no boys from the church other than the cubmaster's son. Hope to have some soon though, as we need boys.

 

In our council, every Methodist troop, and they are in every community, is over 50 years old.

 

 

[asm 411]

Our Troop has been chartered my the local UMC for almost 70 years. We had a good relationship with the pastor who was there for a number of years. He was very supportive and also very hands off. He was transferred away and the temporary pastor seemed to tolerate us for about a year. About three months ago a new pastor was put in place. The Scoutmaster and I discussed how we can be more involved with the charter organization other than several Scouts showing up on Scout Sunday once a year.

 

I had the opportunity to sit down with the pastor and chat. Turns out he is an Eagle Scout. We came up with a few ideas. The first is we added him to our email list so he knows the kinds of things we are doing. The second is that the PLC meetings will be held at the church. The church does not have a large enough room to have regular meetings so we meet at one of the local schools.

 

The pastor also said he would let us know of any service projects we can do for the church. It is start. I think it is important that the Scouts know who is supporting them.

[Scouter&mom]

Our troop is sponsored by a United Methodist Church. The troop and the pack are actually sponsored by the Church, not the UMM. The Girl Scout troops are sponsored by the Church too, although a while back they were all sponsored by the UMM. I am not completely sure what brought on the change in sponsorship, but I think it may have been due to personalities within the church and the UMM. I have been involved with Scouting at this particular church for over 15 years now, and the Church has always been involved with the Scouts. Besides Scout Sunday, which is a completely Scout run service, the troops help with various projects at the Church, as the need arises. The Church doesn't get directly involved with the troops finances, but does accept and pass on donations for the troops. The Church members generously support the fundraisers that the troops do, including periodic dinners after Sunday services. When the Boy Scout trailer was broken into and some of our camping equipment stolen, donations from the church members allowed us to quickly replace the equipment. The Church has also donated use of different banquet facilities for district and council events. Most of our youth membership is from outside of the Church, but a number of our adults are either members of this Church or another UMC. Those of us who have been scouting there a long time consider it a special place, and are recognized by the membership, even if we aren't a member.

[packsaddle]

OK, I'm curious. It seems that we all have most of the boys from outside the CO. What is going on? Are Methodists a dying breed? This CO is heavily skewed toward elderly congregation members so I guess that's a foregone conclusion. But is this true for all UMC churches? Moreover, why the heck doesn't this happen to Presbyterians? Very interesting question indeed.

[GernBlansten]

Pack,

the congregation of our UMC is also getting very elderly. I think younger families are gravitating to the non-denominational mega churches in our area. They are thriving. Going to one of their services is like going to a rock concert or Amway convention.

[HICO_Eagle]

My current unit is chartered by the UMC but they are largely uninvolved with the unit. Our finances are completely separate except for the short period many many years ago when we had a troop vehicle that was getting insured through the church.

[Buffalo Skipper]

HICO_Eagle brings up a good point, so let me ask a direct question on this. For those of you who own trailers (presumably owned by the CO, but maybe not...) who pays for insurance on the trailer or other equipment?

[packsaddle]

I'm not sure what kind of insurance you're talking about. But while our trailer is parked on church property, it's insured by our CO property insurance policy. On the road it is covered by the policy of whoever owns the tow vehicle. The license renewal is paid by the CO, who holds title to the trailer.

As for the other equipment, I doubt that much of that stuff would come under any insurance policy unless the building it was in was also destroyed. Then the CO's policy would be invoked.

I'm not sure I'm answering the question that you intended to ask though.

[Vicki]

"This was after they kicked out a really nice guy as minister because he supported the civil rights movement. I went to college soon after and never again looked back on Presbyterians with anything but ridicule."

 

Interesting, Pack. And yet one of the proudest moments in the history of the Presbyterian church I serve in Missouri(PCUSA) is when the pastor marched in Selma. Those broad brush strokes can be a real problem.

 

Vicki

 

[Vicki]

And as long as I'm "outing" myself - I am a church professional and I would not presume to tell someone they couldn't make a charitable donation through the church I serve to an associated group.

 

Vicki

[HICO_Eagle]

In our case, the troop bought and reconditioned a school bus for use on troop outings. We bought it using troop funds which are kept in a separate bank account by our troop committee chair and treasurer, no involvement from our CO. We purchased insurance for the bus through the church but paid for the insurance and maintenance using troop funds; the only thing the church asked was that we get anyone driving the bus properly licensed and not park the bus in the church lot.