Is Royal Rangers Still Relevant?

The other day I was having a conversation with some friends and fellow Royal Ranger leaders. In the conversation, we were discussing Royal Rangers and perceptions people have of it. Some of the things that have been said are that: Royal Rangers is an ineffective and antiquated ministry, not relevant, costs too much money, requires too much manpower, and is too expensive. I have been pondering: how do we make it more effective and active in more of our churches?

These are the same discussions/objections that I’ve heard for 15+ years. These are the reasons given by churches that don’t have Royal Rangers. The leaders in Rangers that I know are positive that it is relevant. We know that we have helped boys, we know that there’s great spiritual fruit, because we see it all the time. We also know that fatherlessness is one of the biggest problems in our country, in the world probably. We know that there’s a lack of men active in many churches. We know that the Biblical example for mentoring is done in small groups, or one on one. Royal Rangers addresses and provides a male role model and mentoring starting with boys in kindergarten going all the way through high school. Manhood, Christian manhood is relevant! I don’t know how we could make Royal Rangers less expensive than it already is. If you still think it’s expensive, please inquire with your Sectional or District Royal Ranger leadership about how to do Royal Rangers and not spend a lot. You can also send me a message and I will help. Antiquated, I’m not sure what they mean when they say antiquated, that it is not relevant to boys “in this day and age”. A Royal Rangers outpost can center its activities on anything music, drama, camping, hiking, missions, trades, outreach…. anything. It’s not just an outdoor program. Manpower is a long-term problem, if you start mentoring boys (Royal Rangers), it will help you build (or build more) Godly men. If you start mentoring boys to be Godly men in your church, you will have Royal Ranger leaders, and more men active in the church. If we want to change the world and affect churches, then more men is a very good way to do it. Royal Rangers is a set of tools, that you can choose from to help you mentor boys. You pick the tools you want to use in your church. You don’t have to do everything the platform offers. Every Royal Ranger group is not the same… not even close.

Knowing all of this, maybe the problem is not what they say it is or was, the problem may be communications. We, as Royal Ranger leaders are not communicating well. Just maybe they’re saying those things because some of them used to be true, but no longer are. We need to own this communication problem or opportunity. We’re not communicating the wins, victories and all the positive things that we see in and because of Royal Rangers. I think, that maybe we need to do a better job of sharing what has happened not just at the events like camps and retreats and not just with other Ranger leaders. We need to share the mentoring things, we need the share relationship things, we need to communicate with the other ministries, we need to be involved with and helping with our Pastor’s vision for the church he is leading. Sharing with him what is going on with individual boys, and how they are growing. I think that that will help us. Communication is one of the keys.