Boys' Brigade emblem on a stained glass window Strathbrock Parish Church, Uphall. By Kim Traynor. (Creative Commons licence)

Sure and Stedfast

Wednesday July 29 2015

The Very Rev Dr Andrew McLellan highlights the importance of the Boys' Brigade in the life of the Church of Scotland

SOME of my smart friends – especially ministers, and especially ministers like me with liberal values – sometimes raise their eyebrows and even giggle a little when they discover that I am Chaplain of the Boys’ Brigade in the UK.

Sometimes there is a little quip about ‘Better things to do with my time?’ or a muttered ‘old-fashioned’ or ‘militaristic’ or ‘doesn’t fit in with modern church’. And I am left wondering.

Wondering if my memories of my own time in the BB are false. I think I was really happy in the Boys’ Brigade. A little bit of that was to do with family, but more of it was about being a member of two outstandingly good companies, the 1st Kilmarnock and the 1st St Andrews.

Mostly my good memories are about what I received in the BB. Fun and friendship without a doubt. BB camp was almost a life-changing experience for a 12-year-old And also faith. For a manse child in the fifties, Christian faith could be too polite and too precious: it wasn’t that in the BB. Fun and friendship and faith would do as signposts of what a youth organisation might offer – then and now.

I don’t have bad memories of my time in the BB. Nor do I feel uncertain of the value of what I am doing now with the Boys’ Brigade. Last year I paid a visit with the Moderator of the General Assembly to a King George VI training course. These courses equip senior boys to become young leaders. The energy and commitment and support for each other and sense of fun and engagement with Christian faith were there for all to see.

The best thing about being Brigade Chaplain is the thing I have fewest opportunities to do: meeting boys (and now sometimes girls) who are members. When I do have the chance to meet them I am struck by three things. I’m struck by the fact that this is one of the situations which are harder and harder to find where church meets young people. I’m struck by the number of 'hard to reach' boys who are found in BB companies: there is no other large-scale movement where church so regularly meets boys who have no other connection at all with the life of the church. And I am struck by the opportunities the BB often gives to young people with disabilities.

I told Bill Stevenson, the Director for Scotland of the BB (and a Church of Scotland elder) that I was writing this article; and I asked him what he wanted readers to know. Here are four thoughts to keep in mind: (1) BB is growing again – there have been 20 new companies in Scotland in the last five years. (2) Numbers are staying healthy – more Boys than ever getting the Queen’s Badge (500 this year). (3) Programmes are totally different from the days when we were members (he is very much younger than I am!) – learning through fun. (4) There is much improved support from Scottish Government – the BB ties in well with Curriculum for Excellence.

I was very pleased at the General Assembly this year when the Convener of the Mission and Discipleship Council accepted so generously my invitation to express his support for the BB and to assure the Assembly of the Council continuing enthusiastic engagement with the Brigade. That will be for the good of the Boys’ Brigade; and it will be for the good of the Church.

This is an abridged version of an article in August's Life and Work. Subscribe here.