A ward may have a troop, but there is no requirement to join it. The YM activities go beyond the scouting activities. Having experience with a troop of 50 to 100 scouts, I didn’t see the necessary depth in the tiny LDS troop in the ward. You need a range of age and experience to make it work as designed. Unfortunately, the huge troop sponsored by the Catholic church went too far the other direction. The parents were too involved and constantly pressing for activities beyond our financial means to support. My PTA sponsored troop raised funds collecting newspapers and putting on movies at the achool cafeteria. Our activities were scoped within our financial means. Scouts morphed in odd ways in 1973. I opted to stay oit after that point in time.
Join is a lot different than registered or even participating. I wrote that the Scouting age boys in the wards are registered, regardless of activity in the ward.
Essentially, they are “ghost” registrations that the LDS pay for when the boys aren’t active in their church, let alone Scouting.
It’s a dumb policy that costs the church a lot of money. I have some opinions about why, but they’re not germane to the registration discussion.
From the above link...
“Where Scouting is authorized by the Church, young men ages 12 to 15 should be registered. Young men ages 16 and 17 should be registered if they are pursuing rank advancements or if the stake president or bishop chooses to sponsor Scouting programs for young men of this age.”
Note, it does not say active, inactive, etc. It just says that ym in specific age categories should be registered.
“Stakes should register all young men ages 8–15 in Scouting. They should register young men ages 16-17 in Scouting when they are pursuing rank advancements or when stake presidents and bishops choose to sponsor Venturing posts (Rovers in Canada) for young men of this age. Stakes should also register adult leaders.” (June 1998 LDS Budget Allowance Guidelines, pg2)
I stand by my post.
The LDS “segregate” their Scouts based on age and ph quorom (to maintain “quorom identity”, whatever that means), even if you had a 40 boys active in Scouting in an LDS ward, you wouldn’t be permitted to have those boys integrate.
Parental interference, the fastest way to end up as a babysitting troop and doing the heavy lifting. Cheating the Scouts of their opportunities to grow.