To my Fellow Lutherans –
What’s in your congregation’s tool box?
When I served as president of the congregation council at Providence Lutheran Church some twenty-five years ago, I discovered our mission statement was three pages long! (That’s not a mission statement . . . it’s an epistle!) We worked until we had distilled it to one sentence: “The mission of Providence Lutheran Church is to share the Gospel . . . with each other, with our community, and beyond.” With that action, we defined our job and, in order to do a job, one needs a tool box. The same is true for each of our congregations.
So, back to my opening question, “What’s in your congregation’s tool box?”
At Providence our tools include things such as our worship services, Faith Trek Sunday School, community food and personal hygiene pantries, confirmation classes, various Bible study groups, hosting AA and GA groups.
Along with these, we also include Scouting as a tool for our ministry.
For the past sixty-five years, we have used Scouting as a tool to accomplish our congregational mission, currently chartering a Cub Scout pack, a Scouts BSA troop and a Venturing crew. Over the years, several families have joined our church after a first contact through our Scouting units (Evangelism!), our units perform countless service hours for the church and community (Stewardship!) (Community Ministry!)(Property Maintenance!).
Every Tuesday evening, we have young people participating who would otherwise never set foot in a church! The values in the Scout Oath and Law that we teach are all Biblically based.
How can your congregation best use the tools of the Scouting program?
The National Lutheran Association on Scouting (NLAS) is hosting a volunteer training conference at the iconic Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico to address that very topic.
This year, we’ve also included sessions on staffing the 2026 National Jamboree.
As the Dean of the conference I personally invite you to join us for:
Scouting in the Lutheran Church
at the Philmont Training Center
July 6-12, 2025
For details see the attachment (2025 PTC Promo Flyer) and log on to: http://www.philmontscoutranch.
In addition . . . it’s the Philmont Training Center’s 75th anniversary!
COME . . . JOIN THE CELEBRATION AND SHARE THE PEACE!
James C. Whitehead
Past President, National Lutheran Association on Scouting
Member, BSA National Religious Relationships Committee