For 100 years, an estimated 2.5 million boys have voiced the Royal Ambassador pledge: “As a Royal Ambassador, I will do my best to become a well-informed, responsible follower of Christ, to have a Christlike concern for all people, to learn how to carry the message of Christ around the world, to work with others in sharing Christ, and to keep myself clean and healthy in mind and body.”
Royal Ambassadors and their dads from Johnson Ferry Baptist Church pause for a photo during one of the excursions aimed at strengthening the RA missions education organization at the Atlanta-area church.Founded in 1908, the biblically based, hands-on missions program now encompasses RA chapters in 8,000 churches and 14 countries.
“And we’re seeing a bit of a resurgence – lots of folks coming back to this heritage,” said Rob Carr, national RA coordinator at the North American Mission Board.
In mentoring boys for the cause of Christ, Royal Ambassadors teaches missions and evangelism, and such virtues as loyalty, courage, responsibility, compassion and teamwork, akin to the missional life reflected in 2 Corinthians 5:20: “We are ambassadors for Christ.”
The RA curriculum includes Lad magazine for grades 1-3 and Crusader magazine for grades 4-6, along with leader versions of the magazines for planning RA meetings. Age-graded personal growth plans lead boys to earn patches or pins as they progress through the levels of Lad, Page, Squire and Knight. RA activities include scripture memorization, evangelism, missions learning and missions projects, while campcraft workbooks help boys earn their Discoverer, Hiker, Camper and Woodsman patches.
At Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in metro Atlanta, tent camping helps keep 120 boys engaged in RAs. Sheryl Beck, the church’s minister to children, reports that father/son RA campouts are limited to 100, and there’s always a waiting list. RAs at the church also look forward to the annual Racer Derby, held by RA chapters nationwide with small handmade race cars, and RA summer camp.
Beck expressed regret that churches sometimes abandon missions education organizations such as RAs and Girls in Action (GAs) in favor of children’s resources that rely more on games and require less commitment and preparation by leaders.
“Churches today are not willing to put in the effort it takes to make the program a success,” Beck said. “All it takes is a person with a passion for it who will set it up in a way that leaders can come in and do it. There is a lot of value in RAs and GAs.”
The Johnson Ferry RAs earn patches all year. At a dinner each May, the boys are individually recognized for what they have accomplished during the year. “I give out a lot of Bible verse medals – bronze for 25 verses, silver for 50 verses and gold for 75 verses recited to their leader in that year,” Beck said.
“RA of the Year” winners, one per class, also are named based on conduct, participation, achievements, attendance and demonstrating Christlikeness.
The boys take part in several missions projects throughout the year. They hike to raise money for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, they have made birdhouses to sell for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, painted a deck for a family whose father is deployed in Iraq, tackled yard work for the elderly, and collected eyeglasses to send on mission trips.
“That is our goal and our purpose with our RA program – to teach about missions and how to do missions,” Beck said.
At Magnolia Avenue Baptist Church in Riverside, Calif. – where about 35 boys meet each week to learn about and do missions, as they have there for almost 50 years – Allen Pennington has been the RA director for the past six years. Pennington was an RA for a couple of years as a child and credits the program with helping develop his own heart for missions.
Pam Boucher, the church’s minister of childhood development, said the boys have tackled numerous missions projects in recent years such as taking blankets to the homeless in Riverside, decorating and delivering cookies to firehouses and police stations to thank the public servants for their work, gathering food baskets for the needy, and visiting the elderly.
“One year we had a coat drive for the homeless and went to a local park and handed out the coats,” Pennington recounted. “The boys saw another side of life; boys from nice homes saw people living in bushes. It was a real eye-opener for them.”
“Most people who go into ministry had some kind of real influence in their lives,” Pennington noted. “I would encourage churches to develop a missions program. And RAs is one of the best ways to do it, in my experience.”