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On May 11, 2017, the First Presidency announced the discontinuation of Varsity and Venturing Programs in the Church beginning January 1, 2018. (See related story.)
In their letter they expressed appreciation and gratitude, as do we as a Young Men’s General Presidency, to all adult leaders who have supported young men in these programs and the long-standing and continuing partnership with the Boy Scouts of America and Scouts Canada.
The Letter from the First Presidency and the information for the new activities program can be found at ymactivities.LDS.org. This site provides the purposes and guidelines for the Teacher and Priest Activity Program.
Joseph Smith, when asked how he successfully governed so many people, said, “I teach the people correct principles and they govern themselves” (Journal of Discourses 10:57-58). The brethren have provided the correct purposes and principles for a Young Men’s activity program so Young Men leaders can govern in their local areas. This gives local leaders the direction needed to provide meaningful activities that meet the needs of the young men. Young Men leaders should study these materials and become familiar and follow the principles and guidelines. The following three implementation suggestions should help in this process.
1. Counsel together.
Elder M. Russell Ballard’s wise direction on the use of councils is helpful for local leaders as they move forward with this activity program.
To read the full article on the Church News, click here.
RalphJuly 26, 2017
I was hoping that the Church leadership would finally have our young men focus on the Aaronic Priesthood and develop a program that could integrate the best parts of scouting with the Aaronic Priesthood, but with the emphasis on the Priesthood. In this way, we would have better-prepared missionaries and future leaders of the church. Just don't turn the program into basketball like the photo accompanying this article show.
ElisabethJuly 25, 2017
Why is this a big deal? Most of the Mormon world doesn't do scouting at all, let alone Varsity and Venturing.