Home
All Programs
Cub Scouting
11-year-olds
Scouting
Varsity
Venturing
LDS Scouting Events
Guestbook
FAQs
Links
About Us
Quorum-focused Program

Strengthening Aaronic Priesthood programs
through a Quorum and Boy Focus

    NOTE: We see and hear of many wards with weak or struggling Young Mens programs. Part of this may be due to inadequate numbers of men called to these positions or the lack of training of those who are called.  Some other programs suffer from adult leadership that is fragmented between priesthood and activities or that overemphasizes planning of activities on the part of the Young Mens Presidency or other adults. The discussion below gives suggestions about how a quorum- and boy-focused Young Mens program might be conducted, within the framework of instructions from the Church.  Page numbers are given for relevant Church publications: CHI is Church Handbook of Instructions, published 1998; SH is Scouting Handbook, published 1997.

Quorum-focused means boy-focused.  Boy-focused means that the young men themselves are being given the best opportunity possible to grow in stature by exercising the leadership over their quorums and activities. Strong scouting programs require that Aaronic Priesthood activities be quorum-focused and also support the boy-focus that seems necessary for the greatest achievement of Aaronic Priesthood purposes in the lives of young men. The discussion that follows suggests strategies for implementing quorum-focused Aaronic Priesthood activity programs using Scouts, Varsity Scouts, and Venturing programs as the activity arms of the Deacons, Teachers, and Priest quorums respectively.

    1. There are three kinds of activities possible for the Aaronic Priesthood young men, as defined in the Aaronic Priesthood section of the Church Handbook of Instructions (CHI 187):

    • Quorum focused
    • Combined YM-YW
    • Combined YM quorum

    2. While all three kinds of activities have their place, Quorum focused activities, including scouting, are intended to be the predominant young men activity, especially in countries where scouting programs are available, and constitute perhaps 75% of the total activity program for young men.  (A careful reading of the CHI Book 2 Section 2 "Aaronic Priesthood", along with other instructions coming from past and current general Young Mens presidencies, will confirm this emphasis).  Therefore, it would seem important to organize the adult and youth young men leadership and the young men administrative meetings in such a way as to give emphasis to quorum-focused activities.

    In our experience, when a ward fails to emphasize and support a quorum focus for young men activities, then leadership for planning and holding these activities defaults to adults, typically the young mens presidency as a group.  Under this arrangement, activities themselves may be effective and well-planned, but many opportunities for growth on the part of the young men are lost.  Quorum focus in activities also strengthens quorum bonds among the young men.  Activities that are youth planned and led, with adults as advisers (shadow leadership), also present the best opportunity for the creation of adult-youth relationships where positive influence on youths can occur.

    3. Quorum-focused organization recognizes that:

    • A member of the Bishopric is the file leader over each specific quorum and oversees the total program of the quorum including its activities (CHI 180, 187)
    • Serving directly under the bishopric member is the Quorum President (or, as in the Priests quorum, the Bishop is the quorum president).  The quorum presidency is directly responsible for all of the work of the quorum including the scouting program for that age-group. (SH 3)
    • Several adults serve in advisory capacity to each Quorum presidency and assist in carrying out the quorum's scouting program. The bulk of the work of each Young Mens presidency member is as advisor to their specific quorum. (For example, some of the instructions about adult Aaronic Priesthood callings make being a member of the Young Mens Presidency secondary to being a quorum advisor, "The Bishop calls and sets apart a priests quorum adviser, who is also the ward Young Men President" (CHI 180). The primary work of the members of the ward Young Men Presidency (Priesthood Quorum Advisers) is with the young men leaders of their assigned quorum and its scouting program and also with the members of that quorum (see CHI 181). The work with the Deacons and Teachers quorums is under the overall direction of the assigned Bishopric member for each quorum, not the Young Mens president.  (In this way, a ward Young Mens presidency differs from every other presidency in the Church organization.  Only when combined activities are to be held, do the quorum advisors function like a typical presidency.)
    • To be effective, the scouting programs generally require this level of adult involvement as advisors:
      • Three good men, a unit leader and two assistants with each program (perhaps more assistants if the number of boys in the quorum exceeds 12-15).
      • These men should all have received BSA leader specific (basic) training for their type of scouting, and ideally also have attended Wood Badge.
      • These three men should attend Round table regularly and take advantage of other training BSA opportunities.
    • To make the best use of adult manpower in the ward, to enable the strongest adult leaders of boys to work directly with the young men, to simplify the lines of communication and demonstrate priesthood order, and to make sure that priesthood purposes are a part of scouting activities, follow the Handbook recommendation that "generally" the scouting unit leader should be the quorum advisor/ward Young Men presidency member, while the assistant unit leaders should also be assistant quorum advisors (CHI 181; SH 3).  Splitting scouting unit leadership away from the quorum advisor/Young Mens presidency member calling may at best add extra complexity to the administration of Aaronic Priesthood programs and take away from the quorum advisor some of the best tools for building relationships of influence with quorum members. Our experience is that having single individuals called both as quorum advisors/Young Men presidency members and scouting unit leaders, with sufficient assistants, provides the ideal adult support for having strong quorums with dynamic, priesthood-centered quorum activity programs.

      • If it is determined that a quorum adviser/Young Mens presidency member is not to be the adult scouting unit leader for that quorum's program, then this person needs to be given an appropriate scouting role that leaves him in a superior position organizationally to the scouting leader (priesthood callings should be over activity callings). A good option might be for him to serve as unit committee chairman.

    • To the extent that it is possible, members of the quorum presidency should also be the leaders of the scouting program for that quorum.(SH 3)
       
    • See examples:

      • Forming a Venturing Crew from a Priests Quorum Organization

      Forming a Varsity Team from an LDS Teachers Quorum Organization

      Forming a Scout Troop from an LDS Deacons Quorum and Primary Organization

    4. The primary administrative meetings to drive quorum focused activities are:

    • Quorum Presidency meetings/Scouting unit leadership meetings (Patrol Leaders Council, Team leaders meeting, Crew officers meeting)–boy leaders and their advisors planning the details for quorum/scouting activities. 
    • Quorum and scouting leader meetings may be combined or separate, but each will typically require at least one good working meeting a month (60 minutes) and weekly check-up sessions (15-30 minutes) to allow adult advisers to effectively assist their youths to prepare for and succeed in their quorum presidency and scouting leadership callings.
    • Unit committee (one each for Troop, Team, and Crew)–an adult support group of parents and advisors and Bishopric member (the one assigned to oversee the specific quorum), usually meeting monthly (45-60 minutes), to facilitate communication about the program and its calendar with parents and to provide help with administrative details and resources, in order to free unit leaders to work primarily with the boys.

    5. Combined YM-YW activities (monthly mid-week, youth conferences, Sunday evening discussions) represent an important but comparatively smaller aspect of the total activity program for young men as compared to the quorum-based scouting programs.

    • The meeting to drive the preparation of combined YM-YW activities is the Bishopric Youth Committee (CHI 318-319)–needs to be held about monthly, to include Young Men and Young Women presidencies, AP quorum and class presidencies, bishopric counselor, to calendar and make detailed plans for combined activities. Priests First Assistant and Laurel President alternate conducting (45-60 minutes)

    6. Combined young men quorum or Aaronic Priesthood activities may be held occasionally (remember that the quorum scouting programs are all designed as every-week programs so the scheduling of combined YM activities must be weighed against the loss of weeks to run the full quorum scouting programs)

    • The meeting to drive the preparation of combined young men or Aaronic Priesthood activities is the Aaronic Priesthood Committee (CHI 318--Bishopric, YM Presidency, Quorum Presidencies)–This meeting could held about monthly (30-45 minutes), if its major emphasis is on matters other than quorum activity planning, including perhaps time for instruction on leadership.

    7. Other meetings:

    • Young Men Presidency, including meeting with bishopric counselor (CHI 184) –Primarily for training, overall coordination of age-level quorum programs, and communication with ward administrative groups (PEC, Ward Council, Welfare, Bishopric). Perhaps meet monthly for 30-60 minutes. Should not cover individual unit/quorum activity planning.
    • Key Scouting Leaders–(not in CHI or SH–used in some Utah areas or beyond--includes Bishopric or bishopric counselor and unit leaders and committee chairs for each level of scouting–is somewhat duplicative of Young Mens Presidency meeting if these persons are the scouting unit leaders, but adds 11 year old scout leader and cub pack representatives) If held, probably should concentrate on high level direction and items needing coordination, such as the movement of boys across programs, joint fund-raising, and equipment usage, etc. Should not cover unit committee individual program support items.

 

Robert Lewis