I remember when I was a girl I loved being involved with the Girl Scouts. It was like being in a club. I have 4 sisters and all 5 of us were involved at some level, with my oldest sister being a Senior Girl Scout leader. Even my Mom was involved as the organizer for the local chapter.
We used to meet in our church and we loved doing crafts, working on things to earn badges, singing songs and, of course, selling cookies. It was fun to do things with other troops as well, like International conventions and awards ceremonies.
Another thing we did a couple times a year was to go camping. Sometimes it was tent camping in state parks and other times it was to stay in lodging that was available at the local Girl Scout camps. My favorite camp was Julia Crowell/Hilaka. This camp is located in Northeast Ohio and it had some old houses on it that we used to stay in. We called them castles because that’s what these huge Tudor-style buildings looked like to us. I remember staying in Amity House, Coach House and everyone’s favorite: North House. One time, when we were staying in the North House (at least I think it was North House, it could have been one of the other castles), we had a pillow fight and it was wintertime, with freezing rain and the feathers flew out the window and stuck to the brick on the outside of the house. We were in so much trouble! We had no way of cleaning off the feathers from the outside of the house, but I remember finding feathers in my sleeping bag on our next camp-out. Good thing the room was spic-n-span before we left because as a Girl Scout if you remember nothing else, you remember that a Girl Scout always leaves a place cleaner than when they found it! I have fond memories of the days that I spent with my girl friends learning the Girl Scout way.
When my youngest daughter was going into 2nd grade I attended a Girl Scout Roundup at the school that she attended. This is the event that is used to recruit new girls into the organization as well as new leaders. To make a long story short, I was interested in enrolling my daughter into a Brownie troop, but far too busy to be a leader. Well, in order to have a troop for her, they needed a leader. So I said I would be a leader as long as I had someone willing to commit to being my co-leader – not assistant, but someone who would share the load equally. At first no one was interested in helping and then a lovely lady (Pat) volunteered along with me. She was a God-send, truly. We enjoyed taking turns leading the meetings and both worked on other activities as well. We even took our Brownies to one of the local camps for the day! I would have liked to continue with the girls but God called us to ministry and this required us to move out of the area, so I resigned. I hated leaving my friend without a co-leader, but she understood and even had the girls work on a secret scrap-booking project to present to me as a going away gift.
I think the reason why I am thinking about my Girl Scouting days is because I am so unhappy with where the organization has gone. It has become a liberal and “tolerant” organization that goes against the values that I hold near and dear as a Bible-believing Christian. When I was a leader, more than ten years ago, it was beginning to go down the slope. Something that I had come to believe as the right thing — holding meetings in the local church — was no longer “recommended”; as not to offend anyone. So we met in the lunchroom of a public school and used the community center when it was available. Other than that, we met in our home or my co-leader’s home. It also seemed that Moms were uninterested or unavailable to participate with the girls when chaperones were needed — we had lots and lots of what we called “invisible moms”. We could not even get anyone to be the “cookie mom” – that special person who would take the delivery of the troop’s cookies and make sure to arrange for the girls to pick them up for delivery to their customers. Our home became the “cookie warehouse” too.
One Indiana law maker has taken a stand for Christians; those with girls that want the wholesome, trusted social atmosphere that the Girl Scouts used to offer. I read about it here: Girl Scouts Promote …. He took a lot of heat for his comments and even apologized later for generalizing his statement toward the Girl Scouts of Indiana. I found some information to back up his claims here: DiscoverMore. And then I found this one: GirlScoutsRelationship.
So after all my years in that organization, the one that I loved as a young girl and even as a Mom; today I say it is not one that I would recommend for any girl, most especially a child of a Bible-believing Christian. Instead, I think you ought to look into American Heritage Girls. Their mission is “Building women of integrity through service to God, family, community and country.” They have local chapters all over the United States of America. Their web site is very informative, check it out: AGH.
Just so you know, I am not getting paid to tell you about this organization, the Lord just laid it upon my heart that I should speak up and stand for an organization that supports my mission as a Christian, which is to spread the news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are called to be transformed into the image of Jesus and participating in an organization that supports anti-Christian values tears down that mission. Spreading the good news of the Gospel begins in your home as parents. Join with me, take a stand for your girls. Take a stand for your faith. Take a stand for Jesus. Click here to Meet My Savior.
Remember: Christianity isn’t for just once a week; Christianity is for Every Day. Speak out and support the American Heritage Girls.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
~ Deuteronomy 6:4-9
