Stacy Long
AFA Journal staff writer
Author’s note: My Girl Scout career ended almost before it had begun when Mom discerned non-Christian attitudes among the leaders of the Brownies’ troop she had enrolled me in. She withdrew me before the first month was over, and my scouting career ended, a casualty of the liberal social agenda. Within a year, the national Girl Scouts organization made their changing values clear when they announced flexibility on interpreting or omitting the term God in the Girl Scout pledge. It seems my mom was not the only one who saw cause for concern.
March 2013 – When the Girl Scouts of America diluted the reference to God in its pledge, that signaled for long-time member Patti Garibay (photo at left) that Girl Scouts had changed during the 16 years she had been involved as a troop leader and ever since her own Brownie days.
“The realization that there was something amiss in the Girl Scouts and that it was not what people believed it to be was really disconcerting to me as a Christian woman,” she told AFA Journal. “I could no longer volunteer for an organization that did not put God first and keep His rules. So after a lot of prayer and consultation with other wise people, determination came to create an organization called American Heritage Girls that would use scout type activities but would still glorify God in what it did.”
In the 17 years since Garibay left Girl Scouts to found a scouting organization for girls that would keep Christ at the center, Girl Scouts of the USA has only grown more dogmatic about its liberal agenda, promoting abortion rights and feminist propaganda and becoming an overt advocate for homosexual and lesbian lifestyles.
If God is in it, people will come
Meanwhile, American Heritage Girls has also grown from its founding with 10 troops and 100 members in 1995 and now brings a Christ-centered program to over 22,000 girls in 48 states and 8 countries. AHG took an especially important step for continued growth when it signed a memorandum of mutual support with Boy Scouts of America in 2009 in recognition of their mutual values.
This alliance means the two groups now work together to share resources and form complementary charters so that families can easily enroll both sons and daughters in compatible scouting groups. In November 2011, the Washington Times joined many other media outlets in expressing admiration for the surprising success of AHG. While publicity has helped spread the word about AHG, Garibay points to God’s blessing as the root of AHG’s success.
“I believe that AHG is blessing God and God is glorifying that fruit,” she said. “And we believe that if God is in it, it will remain and the people will come, because of God’s blessing. We’ve seen it happen with American Heritage Girls again and again.”
In addition, the success of AHG may be viewed as an encouraging indication that in the midst of an increasingly anti-Christian culture, Christian values are still very important to a great many people. With the disappointing surrender of Girl Scouts to secularism and godlessness, many people have turned to AHG to make up the deficit.
Garibay is convinced that Christ-centered parents are looking for an organization that upholds their family values and will encourage their daughters – not make them question what parents and churches say. “I think there are still a lot of vibrant Christians who want that for their daughters,” Garibay said. “I don’t know if it’s the great majority like it used to be, but there are still an awful lot of people who want a Christ-centered program for their daughters, and they want America to return to Christian values. American Heritage Girls gives families an extra ‘arrow in the quiver’ to really fight the culture wars.”
Building women of integrity
Garibay pointed out that AHG is not just an alternative to Girl Scouts, but fills a special place in today’s youth ministry. Above all, AHG seeks to instill in girls the character and resources necessary to represent a Christian presence in today’s society, as described in the AHG Vision and Mission Statements: “American Heritage Girls is the premier national character development organization for young women that embraces Christian values…Building women of integrity through service to God, family, community and country.” For AHG, fulfilling this responsibility means turning to the Bible for an authoritative foundation.
“It is difficult to have a character development program without a basis from which to make those character development decisions. For us, the Bible is that basis,” Garibay explained. “Because the message is consistent despite cultural changes, we’re really able to help girls navigate the seas of today’s social issues by going right back to the Bible and saying, ‘This is what God says about these issues.’ It’s important to undergird girls’ faith with other believers so they learn how to debate and defend it.”
Accordingly, the principles and emphases of AHG programs have been carefully designed on scriptural premises, with character goals that set AHG apart from the surrounding culture. Among the qualities emphasized are purity – described as “a life of holiness, being pure of heart, mind, word and deed, reserving sexual activity for the sanctity of marriage; marriage being a lifelong commitment before God between a man and a woman;” integrity (“to live a moral life, demonstrating the inward motivation to do what is right, regardless of the cost”) and reverence, or being faithful and honoring to God. It is with this kind of instruction that AHG teaches girls to retain traditional values that much of society has scorned and forgotten.
While vigilant Christians no longer consider Girl Scouts a wholesome option, with groups like AHG, families no longer have to sacrifice Christian values.
Many such groups have emerged in recent years, so there is no need to tolerate the liberal agenda of the Girl Scouts or to feel compelled to forgo involvement in a character development club. (See below.) If one of these groups does not already have a local chapter, then a new chapter can be brought to one’s church or community, or – following the example of Patti Garibay – a brand new club can be founded. As society continues to reject and dishonor God and His laws and to challenge Christians and their beliefs, there are countless children who would benefit from being given another “arrow in their quiver.” 
Christ-honoring opportunities
Many churches have denominational-based programs, such as the Baptist-based Awana (www.awana.org), Assembly of God’s Missionettes (www.ngm.ag.org) and various children’s outreach programs of the Salvation Army (www.boothyouth.com). And beyond that, Keepers of the Faith (www.keepersofthefaith.com) markets resources to form a Keeper’s Club based on personalized criteria.
AHG partners with denominational groups and many other excellent organizations, including:
▶ VeggieTales www.veggietales.com; www.ahgonline.org/sweetpeabeauty
▶ Secret Keeper Girl www.secretkeepergirl.com
▶ Operation Christmas Child http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/
▶ Compassion International www.compassion.com
▶ iShine Ministries ishineministries.com;
▶ Programs of Religious Activities with Youth (P.R.A.Y) www.praypub.org/main_frameset.htm
