You can find out a lot of answers about Royal Ambassadors here:

1. When does Royal Ambassadors meet at Christiansburg Baptist Church?
2. Are girls allowed in Royal Ambassadors?
3. How old does my boy have to be to attend Royal Ambassadors?
4. How does a boy join Royal Ambassadors.
5. How much does it cost?
6. How do you ensure my child's safety?
7. Do I need to attend Christiansburg Baptist for my child to attend Royal Ambassadors?
8. What religious beliefs will be discussed with my child?
9. What is a Lad?
10. What is a Crusader?
11. What is the uniform?
12. What is my boy expected to do?
13. What is the Personal Growth Plan (PGP)?
14. What does my child need to bring each week to Chapter meetings?
15. What does my child need to do outside of Chapter meetings?
16. How are awards presented?
17. What is the RA pledge?
18. What is the RA motto?
19. Which translation of the Bible is used in Royal Ambassadors?
20. How is Royal Ambassadors different than AWANA or Scouts?

Answers:

Royal Ambassadors at Christiansburg Baptist church hold Chapter meetings every Sunday night from 6:00 to 7:00 pm.   Meetings are held year-round, and we do not take breaks for summer vacation.   Holiday weekends are treated on a case-by-case basis, but the rule of thumb is that unless told otherwise, RA's will meet every Sunday night.

Royal Ambassadors is for boys in grades 1-6.  Our church also has Girls in Action (GA) for girls of the same age.  Studies show that boys learn better from male teachers, and that boys often disrupt coed groups.  RAs and GAs at Christiansburg Baptist are structured to provide the best learning environment for both boys and girls.

Reading, memorization, and team activities are all part of Royal Ambassadors.  Therefore, boys must be in school grades 1-6 to participate in Royal Ambassadors.  For younger children, Mission Friends is available.  For older boys, youth activities are available.

Boys must memorize the RA motto and RA pledge before becoming official members and earn other awards.   Prospective members may wear RA vests to meetings and accumulate provisional points for other awards, but they will not be awarded any pins or patches until the motto and pledge are memorized.

Royal Ambassadors does not have any dues or costs for regular chapter meetings.   The Christiansburg Baptist "Wise Women" group covers the costs for the uniform vests.  All learning materials and awards are provided by the church.  Certain extracurricular activities such as camping, Royal Racers, etc. have additional costs.

Weekly chapter meetings are held with no fewer than two adult members present for your child's safety.  If two adults are not available for the chapter meeting, RAs will be cancelled for that week and your child will be taken back to you.

Parents will need to fill-out Activity Medical Forms annually with emergency information for each child.  Permission slips are required for each special Activity.  These forms need to be notarized before the event, so plan ahead.   You can download the forms from the downloads section of this website.

Neither the child nor the parents need to attend Sunday Services or be members of Christiansburg Baptist Church for the child to join Royal Ambassadors.  All people are welcome to attend CBC.  We want you to become active, vital members of the church to which God leads you.

As part of Christiansburg Baptist Church, our RA chapter shares the beliefs of our church.  The beliefs of this church are published elsewhere on the website.  Royal Ambassadors materials are published by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and are used regularly.  Royal Ambassadors learn and memorize a motto and pledge, which are based on biblical values.   Your child will regularly hear the plan of salvation and will be encouraged to become a Christian.  Since only the Holy Spirit can draw people to Jesus Christ, no attempts will be made to pressure your child to make a profession of faith that he is not ready to make on his own.  All members in RAs are encouraged to become servants of Christ and to tell others about Jesus Christ.

A Lad is a boy in grades 1-3.  A Crusader is a boy in grades 4-6.  All RA materials are age-appropriate, but experience shows that the Lad materials are a little advanced for the  younger boys in reading level.  Please assist your child with difficult words when he is reading or working with RA materials at home.

The RA uniform is a Khaki vest sold by Lifeway Specialty Imprints.  The vest is worn over normal street clothes.  Various pins and patches are earned throughout the year and are attached to the vest.   It is important that boys have all of their awards attached within two weeks of receiving the award, including sewn patches.  If a boy does not have all his earned awards attached, he will be considered "out of uniform" during chapter meetings.

Your boy will be expected to participate, follow rules, and treat adults and other children respectfully in all RA gatherings.   Bad language is not permitted in Royal Ambassadors, no matter whether the language is seen on TV or heard in school.   A good rule of thumb is:  If a word or behavior would not be welcomed in front of the church, it should not be used in Royal Ambassadors.    If a child does not follow rules, he may be warned, miss rewards,  be placed in time out, be banned from an activity, or be returned to his parent for further discipline.

The Personal Growth Plan or PGP is a grade-level workbook that serves as a tool for helping boys learn about virtues and keeping commitments.  It is designed to be self-explanatory for an adult and should be throughly reviewed by a parent.  The book is designed to be completed in six months and also serves as a recordbook of progress in RAs.  Each month, a new virtue section is worked-on in the PGP.  Boys should select one four-week committment project each month and do the work on a weekly basis.  Missed weeks are lost and cannot be crammed into the same week with another weekly task.  Points are earned for keeping weekly committments and go toward awards for their vests.  Also, the PGP has a section on Bible memory verses.  Boys earn 5 points for each verse memorized, and a medal for his uniform for every 25 verses memorized in a year.

Boys need to bring 3 things to each Chapter meeting:  the Personal Growth Plan workbook, Lad or Crusader monthly magazine, and their vest.  Points are earned for bringing these items each week.  Experience has shown that young boys CAN be responsible enough to remember to bring these things with the right encouragement.  Magazines and books are needed at home for commitments and memory work so they will not be collected at the end of class.

There is not enough time for boys to do memory work in each chapter meeting.  Therefore, boys will need to memorize their pledge, motto, and weekly memory verse outside of the chapter meeting.  With parental encouragement, this shouldn't be difficult, since the boys want to earn the awards associated with these tasks.    In addition to memory work, boys will need to complete their PGP commitments outside of class.   Any crafts, projects, or other class activity that cannot be completed in the class time allotted may be sent home for completion.

The goal is to have regular award ceremonies to reward the boys for their hard work.  The plan is to have these events roughly quarterly.  The preferred way to do this is during a special Sunday morning church service so the church can rejoice with the boys.  It is understandable that some families may not be available for such award services.  In the event that a boy misses a regular award ceremony, a brief ceremony will be held during a regular chapter meeting.

The RA pledge is the framework that provides structure to the entire RA program.  It is available in the PGP books, and also online here.

The RA motto is "We are ambassadors for Christ", and is based on 2 Corinthians 5:20.

Starting in 2006, the Holman Christian Standard Bible is used in all printed materials provided by the North American Mission board.  Children are encouraged to use whatever Protestant Bible translation their family already uses.  Suggested alternate Bible translations are NIV, KJV, NKJV, NASB, or childrens' versions of these Bibles.  The important thing is that children understand what they are reading or memorizing.

We recognize that there are other fine children's programs and ministries out there.  But Royal Ambassadors is unique in that it emphasizes Christian mission work as an integral part of the curriculum.  We teach children about today's missionaries and encourage boys to help others in Jesus' name.  The message of Christ is not something to be ashamed of, and boys should share the valuable gift of eternal life with their friends and family.

Other differences include:

• Single-sex learning environment
• Integration of mission projects into  activities
• Customizable lesson plans
• Free to all (no dues)
• As a part of the Southern Baptist Convention, the program is not likely to be required to change its teachings to comply with changing worldly opinions.