What Scouting Taught Me About Ministry

Summer reminds me of the great times I had as a Boy Scout. It was during summer breaks from school that we did most of our camp-outs and completed much of the work towards our merit badges and rank requirements. While visiting my parents recently I came across my old Boy Scout books from the 1980s (see photo). It was fun to flip through their well-worn pages and reminisce about my days in Troop 78 in Hadley, PA.

These memories got me thinking about how Scouting is great preparation for life as an adult. The Boy Scouts also taught me a few things about ministry. Here are some ways that being a Scout has helped me as a missionary and a pastor.

1. Packing. Most people associate Scouting with camping. Sure, it's great fun to swim in rivers and hike through the woods. But those experiences are only possible if you bring the right gear. Scouting taught me that camping is 90% preparation. Most of the work happens before the campout. A Scout has to pack his own personal effects, but the troop also works together to pack and load up shared materials such as tents and cooking equipment. The 1983 Handbook has a template for an individual packing list (see photo to the left), which is how I learned to pack from a checklist. At one point in my career as a missionary I traveled more than 15 weeks a year. If I hadn't used a list, which I printed out before every trip, I would have spent a couple of extra days each year just figuring out what to pack.

Packing for a campout is a concrete way of learning the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared. Leading worship on Sunday mornings is similar -- 90% of the work comes before the event. Picking songs, working on sermons, and practicing the scripture readings all have to happen prior to Sunday at 10:00am.

2. Paying Attention.  In order to earn the Environmental Science merit badge (at least back in my day) we had to sit in the woods for a total of 8 hours (over 4 different sessions). Then we had to write a 500-word essay about the animals, plants, and geological features that we observed. At that point in my life this was the longest, most boring activity I had ever undertaken. Never before had I sat in one place for so long with nothing to do. But it taught me to pay attention to what is going on around me.

It is easy to make ministry into a list of things to get done each day. But unless you take a break from working through your to-do list, you will miss some of the most important things that go on around you. The spiritual disciplines of prayer and Sabbath-keeping are meant to keep us focused on what is happening -- and especially on what God is doing in our midst. Here are some quotes on this topic from theologian Karl Barth. These statements are found on pages 162 and 163 of his book Evangelical Theology. (I modified them slightly to make them more gender inclusive.)

The purpose of the Sabbath is not to eliminate the working days or to divest them of their proper tasks, but rather to obtain for them precisely the light from above which they lack.

For in prayer a person temporarily turns away from his or her own efforts. This move is necessary precisely for the sake of the duration and continuation of one's own work.

A person prays, not in order to sacrifice the work or even to neglect it, but in order that it may not remain or become unfruitful work.

3. Actions create habits that build character. To kids the thrill of Scouting comes from all the new experiences: sleeping out under the stars, playing Capture the Flag in several acres of forest, canoeing across miles of lakes. These things are all great. But Scouting is actually about using these experiences to form character and to nurture virtues. When I was a teenager I wasn't excited about packing or sitting in the woods alone for hours on end. At the time those activities were just something to endure on the way to the "real" fun. But I realize now that those very activities built skills of patience and preparation that have made me into a better person.

This is not unlike what congregations do every time they come together for worship. I came of age in an era when children were not encouraged to take communion. We were taught that we should be old enough to understand the sacrament before participating. I still respect parents who make this decision for their children, but I've learned to see it differently. Instead of waiting until someone can grasp the significance of Holy Communion (and who can, at any age?), I see it as a way to form who we are. By taking Communion regularly we are creating habits that help us become more faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. The order of worship leads us in actions that teach forgiveness (passing the peace), gratitude (the prayer of thanksgiving), and hospitality (the invitation). A child who participates in these liturgical practices is learning virtues by doing them and by watching others do them. In this way their actions precede and create understanding.

It's true that going to church doesn't by itself make someone into a Christian. Faith is required for that. But in response to the gift of faith, participating in worship services helps us to form habits, which in turn create virtues that make us into better followers of Jesus.