Leadership Merit Update 2019

July 17, 2019

As part of our ongoing efforts to make the Royal Rangers program more suitable for churches of any size, an important change has been made to the way in which leadership merits may be earned.

According to previous requirements, five specific lessons associated with each leadership merit must be completed in order to earn a specific leadership merit. That is, the five lessons associated with Leadership 203 must be completed for a boy to earn the Leadership 203 merit. However, this practice has led to significant challenges:

• Boys who attend Royal Rangers inconsistently may be unable to complete all the specified lessons for a specific leadership merit, leading to significant make-up efforts on the part of the leader or boy or the inability of the boy to complete his advancement trail.
• Royal Rangers outposts in smaller churches where multiple age groups are combined into one class face challenges in teaching material that is applicable to the advancement trail of every boy in their class.

In order to eliminate these obstacles, the following changes have been made, beginning April 1, 2019:

• The leadership lessons currently associated with a specific leadership merit will now be referred to as a “leadership lesson set” rather than a leadership merit.
• Boys from any age group may complete any leadership lesson from any leadership lesson set and count that lesson to satisfy the requirements for the next leadership merit in his age group. (Note: This does not apply to Ranger Kids since the Ranger Kids advancement trail does not include leadership merits.)
• Each leadership merit is earned by completing any four (4) Royal Rangers leadership lessons and participating in a group service project.
• Leadership merits must be earned sequentially. For example, a Discovery Ranger who completes four (4) lessons and a service project receives Leadership 101. When he completes an additional four (4) lessons and another service project, he receives Leadership 102, and so on.

This change enables outposts leaders teaching combined groups to teach one leadership lesson, allowing every boy in the group to receive credit toward his next leadership merit. For example, if a leader is teaching a combined group that includes Discovery, Adventure, and Expedition Rangers, he can teach any Royal Rangers leadership lesson (red, gold, or sky blue) to the entire group. The Discovery Rangers will receive credit toward their next RED leadership merit. The Adventure Rangers will receive credit toward their next GOLD leadership merit. The Expedition Rangers will receive credit toward their next SKY BLUE leadership merit.

This change also enables boys who have missed a leadership lesson with their group to make up the lesson with another group or wait until the next lesson is taught to complete his leadership merit.

It should be noted that the structure of the Royal Rangers advancement system has not changed. Only the way leadership merits may be earned has changed.