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Religious Life Emphasis
One of the program emphasis areas in Venturing is Religious Life. Religious life crews are normally sponsored by churches, synagogues, temples and mosques. One of their main purposes, though not necessarily their only purpose, is to educate and involve Venturers in their religion.
A religious life crew may be formed from an existing church youth group, or may be a separate group. It has at its fingertips all of the resources of Venturing and the Boy Scouts of America. The ideals of Venturing are compatible with our American religious institutions. We offer the Religious Life Bronze Award as a way of recognizing and guiding a religious life emphasis program. See the Venturer Handbook, No. 33494, available at the Scout Shop, for complete information on the Venturing recognition program.
Approximately 30 different denominations offer their own program of religious instruction and recognition, recognized by the Boy Scouts of America for Venturing age youth, both young men and young women. To review which awards are offered by denominations, and to find where to get the material for youth and adults, click here.
We also have facilities that may be used for crew activities, such as our camps, where there are opportunities to participate in challenge courses or to conduct your own retreat.
There will be a session at Philmont Training Center this summer entitled "Venturing Programming for Religious Groups." This session is for adults interested in helping in the religious life emphasis. It will also introduce the new Venturing religious life award that follows the Venturing Bronze Award, equivalent in this area to the Ranger in outdoors, and the Quest in sports. For more information, click here.
Activities.
Crews or individuals who know of religious life events to of interest to other Venturing crews are encouraged to email randy.hoenig@shac.org with all the particulars.
Ten Commandments Hike. This hike is held every February. When information is available, it will be linked here.
Religious Life Bronze Award
This award was called the "Youth Ministries" Bronze Award until about 2002.
To earn the Bronze Award for RELIGIOUS LIFE activities, do nine of the following:
1. Earn your denomination's Venturing-age religious award.
See pages 72-73 of the Venturer's Guidebook; pages 12-13 of Relationships Resources, No. 4-400; or the Duty to God brochure, No. 5-879. (Click above for information on Venturing-age religious awards.)
2. a. Learn about cultural diversity.
b. Make a presentation or tabletop display using the information you
learned in (a) above.
OR
c. Invite someone from a different cultural background from yours and the majority of your crew's members to give a presentation on a subject of his or her choosing. Introduce your guest.
d. Participate in a discussion about cultural diversity with your crew, Sunday school class, or other group.
3. Plan and lead a service project such as helping to build a Habitat for Humanity house, participating in a community cleanup project, or taking on a fix-up project for a nursing home or nursery.
4. a. Serve as a volunteer in your church or synagogue or another nonprofit organization for at least three months.
b. Keep a personal journal of your experiences each time you worked as a volunteer.
c. After you have served as a volunteer for at least three months, share your experiences and how you feel about your service with others.
5. Go on a religious retreat or religious trek lasting at least two days.
6. Produce or be a cast member in some type of entertainment production with a religious or ethical theme, such as a play, a puppet show, or concert for a group such as a play, a puppet show, or concert for a group such as a children's group, retirement home, homeless shelter, or Cub Scout or Boy Scout group.
7. Serve as president, leader, or officer of your Sunday school class or
youth group.
8. Complete a Standard First Aid course or higher course or its equivalent.
9. a. Participate in at least two Ethical Controversies activities as a participant.
b. Be a facilitator for at least two Ethical Controversies activities for your crew, another crew, your school class, a Boy Scout troop, or another group.
c. Lead or be a staff member putting on an Ethics Forum for your crew, your church or synagogue, or your school class.
10. Serve as a Sunday school teacher or assistant for a children's Sunday school class for at least three months, or as a volunteer for a church/synagogue children's activity such as vacation Bible school. (This must be different than requirement 4 above.)
11. Meet with your church or synagogue minister/rabbi/leader to find out what he or she does, what they had to do to become your leader, and what they think is the most important element of their job.
[Activities or projects that are more available in your area may be substituted with your Advisor's approval for activities shown above.]
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