Discipleship Requires Practice – And Practice Requires People

The church was never meant to be a place people visit. It was meant to be a people who go. John Wesley understood this deeply. When he instructed pastors about their work with children, he didn’t tell them to wait for families to come to worship. He told them to go to the children, to enter their world, to attend to their faith through relationships, and to shape their lives through shared practice.

Wesley believed that faith is formed the same way character is formed: through habits, imitation, and community. Children learn by watching the people who love them. They grow when adults take time to be present with them. They flourish when the church becomes more than a building – when it becomes a network of relationships that surround them with grace.

Today’s research confirms what Wesley preached centuries ago. Barna’s studies on teens show that young people struggle not because they lack belief, but because they lack places to practice belief. They long for mentors. They long for belonging. They long for adults who will walk with them, not just teach them. They want faith that is lived, not just explained. They want companions for the trail and people who live by example.

This is where the church has an extraordinary opportunity.

If we want children and youth to grow in Christ, we must reach beyond our doors. We must meet them in the spaces where they already gather – schools, sports, community groups, Scouting units, neighborhood programs. These are not competitors to the church. They are extensions of the mission field Wesley expected us to enter.

When a congregation partners with a Cub Pack, a Scout Troop, a youth club, or a community program, it is doing more than offering space. It is offering presence. It is offering relationships. It is offering practice – the daily, ordinary, sacred practice of living faith together.

Discipleship is not formed by curriculum alone. It is formed by shared life.

Wesley knew this. Our children still need this. And the church is uniquely positioned to provide it.

The question is not whether young people will practice something. They already are. The question is whether the church will be close enough, present enough, and open enough to help them practice faith.

Opening our doors is good. Walking through them is better. Because discipleship requires practice – and practice requires us.

Every time a Scout takes on a new responsibility, they are rehearsing adulthood. They are learning how to speak up, how to listen, and how to make decisions that affect others. The church can nurture these early steps into lifelong habits of servant leadership. The world needs leaders shaped by the values of the Scout Law — and the church is uniquely positioned to help form them.

To build leaders…Time for Scouting!

One good friend was on the trustees when I was voted on. We knew each other from Scouting. As a parent, he found it hard to see the youth leading the group. There were many inefficiencies whenever a new youth leader (Senior Patrol Leader) took over. Placing responsibility on individual youth and their groups does lead to challenges. The kind that both adults and youth learn from.

After two years of serving together, his time on the trustees came to an end. He had served as the chair for almost the whole time. His parting comment really stuck with me. “It feels like you just got it down when your time is up.”

Scouting is one of the few ministries where young people learn by doing all the time. They lead the meetings, plan the trips, cook the meals, and solve the problems. Adults mentor along the way. The church has long believed that faith is formed through practice, not theory alone. (Ask James in case you wonder about that verse 1:22.) When we support Scouting, we are supporting a hands‑on discipleship model that mirrors Jesus’ own approach with his followers – walk with me.

By the way, if the trustee chair had been a Scout, he would have already had some experience to lean on when leading in the church. That would have changed him and the church for the better.

Young people grow best where they feel safe. Scouting’s commitment to youth protection aligns naturally with our Safer Sanctuaries practices. Together, they create a space where children can try, fail, learn, and try again. The Scout Law calls us to be trustworthy. Safety is the first step toward trust — and trust is the soil where faith can take root.

Youth protection isn’t paperwork. It’s discipleship. Our leaders train, prepare, and stay vigilant because every child deserves a church that guards their dignity and well-being.

Local churches have always carried a deep calling to nurture children and youth. But in today’s legal, digital, and cultural landscape, that calling comes with a level of responsibility that many congregations underestimate. When a church operates a youth group, whether it’s five kids on Wednesday night or fifty on a retreat, the church is the sole owner of that ministry. And ownership brings both blessings and liabilities for both the local church and its trustee (the conference).

At the same time, many of the most respected youth-serving organizations in the country-Scouting America, Girl Scouts of the USA, Big Brothers Big Sisters, YMCA of the USA, YouthBuild, Boys and Girls Clubs, and 4-H among them-have spent decades building robust systems of training, screening, monitoring, and insurance that most churches simply do not have the capacity to replicate on their own.

Are we going to try to keep kids safe alone or as a cord of three strands?

There is something powerful about a church that simply shows up for its young people. Scouting gives us a front‑row seat to watch youth discover who they are becoming. When a congregation opens its doors to a troop or pack, it is offering more than a meeting space — it is offering presence. And presence is ministry. The Scout Oath begins with “On my honor,” and when the church stands beside young people, we help them understand what honor looks like in daily life.