Chapter 2 Beginning Royal Ambassadors Committed leaders are at the heart of the Royal Ambassadors organization. You have the opportunity to teach boys what you know and to help them become aware of God s plan for their lives. You serve as a living example of what it means to be a man of God. Leaders determine the success or failure of any RA ministry. What kind of leader do you want to be? A wise leader will prayerfully evaluate his leadership ability and continually seek to grow in his leadership skills. A good way to improve your leadership skills is to attend an associational or state leadership training session where you can hear from and share with other leaders. RA Ministry Team Approach The expression two heads are better than one is true. Three heads are even better! Having more than one leader involved in Royal Ambassadors is necessary for safety and the health and longevity of the organization. Outlined below is an example of an RA Ministry Team approach. RA Ministry Leader: This person is responsible for developing the Royal Ambassadors organization and helping leaders understand they are mentors and role models for the boys of what it means to be an ambassador for Christ. His responsibilities include: Understand boys and the RA organization. Learn the RA Pledge and live out the words. Register the RA chapter annually. Provide resources and training for other RA leaders. Encourage evaluation and planning of the Royal Ambassadors organization. Plan times of encouragement and fellowship for RA leaders. Serve as the church s primary contact for associational/state RA activities. Help start new RA groups. RA Leader: The people who plan and conduct the meetings. Their responsibilities include: Understand boys and the RA organization. Learn the RA Pledge and live out the words. Meet for evaluation and planning. Involve the boys in appropriate interest activities and missions projects/activities. Develop meaningful relationships with the boys. Acknowledge the boys accomplishments.
Remember, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Leaders work together to strengthen one another. Always have at least two adults with each group of boys. You may have more than one adult serving in these leadership positions. Youth, with supervision and training, can assist adults in these leadership roles. Royal Ambassadors provides a unique opportunity for men to help shape the lives of boys and to help them to become Ambassadors for Christ. As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17 NIrV). Getting Started Royal Ambassadors provides an opportunity for boys to develop biblical character in addition to growing spiritually, physically, mentally, and in relationships with others. Begin praying that God will prepare adult leaders to become sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit and encourage others to develop an on-mission lifestyle. Use these steps to develop a successful Royal Ambassadors ministry. Awareness/Enlistment/Organization 1. Gather Support Share your interest with the church. Enlist the support of the pastor, men s ministry leader, and children s minister. Gather a planning team. Determine how to do RAs in your church. Determine how many leaders will be needed (minimum of two leaders per group). 2. Invite Leaders Extend a call for an RA Ministry Leader. Seek someone with a heart for helping boys become missional. That person may be you! Schedule a meeting with parents. Talk to them about the benefits of Royal Ambassadors for their boys and the church. Encourage parents to be involved in their boy s activities and advancement. Follow your church s process for selecting or electing RA leaders. Provide training for leaders. Have leaders attend an associational, state, or national training event. You may be able to enlist a trainer to come to your church by contacting the associational or state office. Utilizing the Organization 1. Provide Resources Royal Ambassador leader resources are bi-monthly RA Leader magazine and the bimonthly RA Leader Kit. Royal Ambassador resource is the bi-monthly RA World magazine. Additional resources are membership and achievement pins and patches. To order these Royal Ambassador materials, call 1-800-968-7301 or order online at wmustore.com.
2. Meet Together Meeting together helps you maintain your commitments both the boys commitment to develop godly character and the men s commitment to mentor a missions lifestyle and help the boys learn character virtues. You can conduct your meetings using the RA World and RA Leaders magazines for both leaders and boys. Basic RA meeting guidelines are found in the RA Chapter Meeting section. Forms for planning and registering your group are provided in the RA Forms section. 3. Register Your Group Register your group online at wmu.com/ra or complete the form provided in the RA Resource Book and send it to: RA Registration WMU, SBC 100 Missionary Ridge Birmingham, AL 35242-5235 Why Register Your RA Chapter Every RA chapter should register annually. Benefits of RA chapter registration include the following: Lets the state RA leader know your church has a chapter. Your state RA leader can inform you about statewide training sessions. You can learn of state or regional RA events. You will be able to include state RA events in your planning. Your chapter gets a registration certificate, suitable for framing. Some states may provide other pieces of helpful information in addition to the certificate. Naming Your Royal Ambassador Chapter After a Missionary Royal Ambassador chapters are encouraged to name their group after someone who has been involved in missions and exhibits a missions lifestyle. You can name your chapter after an associational, state, North American Mission Board (NAMB), or International Mission Board (IMB) missionary. Once your chapter has chosen a name, you can use it in promotional information. As your boys study about mission skills, they can correspond with the missionaries and inquire about how the missionaries use those mission skills in their mission field. The boys are encouraged to pray for the missionaries, give to special missions offerings, and consider going one day as missions volunteers. To select a name for your chapter, check with your church and associational leadership for recommendations or you can choose missionaries found in RA World magazine.
You are welcome to name all of your chapters after one missionary or each chapter may have a different name. Correspond with the missionary you name your chapter after, if possible. Missionaries feel honored and appreciated when their names are added to a RA chapter. Please note that some missionaries are in locations or positions where returning mail may be difficult or impossible. Please be patient and understanding. Be sure to inquire about any security concerns that you need to be aware of when corresponding with missionaries. Once you name your chapter, be sure to include that name on your annual registration form. You can print a customized RA Certificate of Registration that is suitable for framing from the national Royal Ambassador Web site, wmu.com/ra. Recruiting Members Boys want to become involved in organizations that are designed with their interests in mind. But often boys on the fringe will only observe from a distance what is happening unless they are personally invited to join. Planning and conducting enlistment activities is a good way to promote Royal Ambassadors and invite boys to join in the process of missions education. One of the most effective ways to invite boys to attend is by word of mouth. Boys who are having fun participating in activities naturally desire to invite their friends to join in the fun. When your attendance begins to increase, it is a good indication that you are planning and conducting meaningful activities. Our job as leaders is to ensure that we are involved in the Great Commission of going and making disciples (sharing the message of Christ), and teaching them to obey (discipling believers). Recruiting members involves strategic planning to ensure that boys who are on the fringe do not remain lost or forgotten. Listed below are some ideas to assist you in planning and conducting recruitment activities. Pray for God s leadership in helping you become aware of opportunities to invite others to join in the mission education process. Take advantage of opportunities to invite others to attend Royal Ambassadors. Review Sunday School and prospect records to identify potential members. Make frequent contacts with visitors, new members, absent members, and members who attend regularly. Encourage members to invite others to attend, to make visitors feel welcome, and to help the visitors become part of the chapter. Create displays in the church and on the church s Web site. Involve boys and parents in creating the displays as desired.
Grouping Royal Ambassadors Royal Ambassadors are divided into two age groups based on the developmental characteristics of boys: Lads (boys in grades 1 3) and Crusaders (boys in grades 4 6). Within each age group, there are vast differences in the developmental characteristics of the boys. Lads require a greater amount of assistance and supervision from leaders. Depending on the number of RAs you have, you may choose to conduct meetings in one of several ways. All Together: Churches with few boys and leaders may choose to combine all ages for the missions experience. Adult leaders work together with all of the boys. Two Groups: Boys meet together for opening activities. Leaders work together in conducting these activities, and then divide the boys into separate age groups. By School Grade: Leaders conduct separate activities with either the Lads or Crusaders in separate meeting areas of the church. Grouping the boys by school grade requires several committed leaders trained to work with the boys. How to Combine Age Groups If there were such a thing as an ideal RA chapter, it would have eight to ten boys with two or more adult leaders, and consist of boys in the same age grouping (either Lads or Crusaders). But, not every church s situation is ideal. If your church s RA ministry is just beginning, or the number of boys available is small, you may need to combine age groups into one RA chapter. Here are some suggestions on how you can lead an RA meeting if you need to combine Lads and Crusaders. Obtain copies of RA Leader magazine and review the activities and missionary stories. Order copies of RA World for the RAs. They always have the same missionary and focus on the same part of the RA Pledge. Choose an Opening activity that can be done with the boys in your group. Be aware of the levels of physical development that may give older boys an unfair advantage. If needed, adapt the activity to level the playing field. Let all the boys participate in the opening activity. Divide the boys into small groups with one leader presenting the missionary story and recall activity to the younger RAs (Lads), and the other leader presenting the missionary story and recall activity to the older RAs (Crusaders).
Choose one activity from the magazine in which the entire group can participate. Combine the groups of boys for the Closing. If a closing game is needed, choose one in which all of the boys can participate. Becoming a Member of Royal Ambassadors Royal Ambassador Membership Requirements A boy can join RAs when he completes the following membership requirements: Learn the RA Motto, We are Ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20), tell it to his parent(s) or RA leader, and talk about what it means. Learn the RA Pledge, tell it to his parent(s) or RA leader, and talk about what it means. Present the RA Membership Patch to the boy. A RA Membership Pin, RA Membership Card, and age-level (Lad or Crusader) Patch are optional items that are available. Membership Resources RA Membership Card This card records the date when a boy became a member of the Royal Ambassadors chapter. The card can be carried in the boy s billfold. RA Membership Patch Members that learn the RA Motto and RA Pledge earn the privilege to proudly wear the Royal Ambassador Membership Patch. Members need to become aware that the symbols and colors of the Royal Ambassador Emblem have specific meanings. RA Membership Pin Members that learn the RA Motto and RA Pledge earn the privilege to proudly wear the Royal Ambassador Membership Pin. Members need to become aware that the symbols and colors of the Royal Ambassador emblem have specific meanings. The RA Membership Card and RA Membership Patch and/or RA Membership Pin may be presented to the boy during a welcoming ceremony. Possible Additional Membership Requirements Lads Learn the Lad Motto, Learn and Do in Jesus Name, tell it to his parent(s) or RA leader, and talk about what it means to learn and do in Jesus name.
Read or listen to 1 Samuel 2:26; 3:1 10. Learn this Bible story and tell it to their parent(s) or RA leader, and talk about what it means. Learn about the meaning of the Lad Patch. In the center of the patch is the Lad Torch. It reminds us that Jesus Christ is the light of the world and as His ambassadors we are to let His light shine through us. The Lad Torch verse is: I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me would not remain in darkness (John 12:46). Learn about the RA Emblem using the activity on the following pages. Participate in a welcoming ceremony. The RA Membership Card, RA Membership Patch and/or RA Membership Pin, and Lad Patch and chevron are presented to the boy during the welcoming ceremony. Crusaders Learn the Crusader Motto, Help Others in Jesus Name, tell it to their parent(s) or RA leader, and talk about what it means to help others in Jesus name. Read John 6:1-15. Learn this Bible story and tell it to their parent(s) or RA leader, and talk about what it means. Learn about the meaning of the Crusader Patch. In the center of the patch is the Crusader Crown. It represents Christ the King and is symbolic of a crown of righteousness. As followers and ambassadors for Christ, we are to stay focused on Jesus and His message to the world. The five points of the crown represent the five parts of the RA Pledge and also the five ideas of RA work: Bible study, mission study, prayer, stewardship, and service. The Crusader Crown verse is: Blessed is the man who keeps on going when times are hard. After he has come through them, he will receive a crown. The crown is life itself. God has promised it to those who love him (James 1:12 NIrV). Other verses about the crown, such as 2 Timothy 4:8, can be used if you want the boys to learn a different verse from this one used with the RA Emblem. Learn about the RA Emblem using the activity on the following pages. Participate in a welcoming ceremony. The RA Membership Card, RA Membership Patch and/or RA Membership Pin, and Crusader Patch and chevron are presented to the boy during the welcoming ceremony.