I began working with the BB around three years ago when I was asked to undertake a review of the Company Census data and to present the findings to the Brigade Executive. More recently I’ve been working on a consultation around the support provided to Companies by Battalions and Districts.

Until then, I confess that my knowledge of the BB was somewhat superficial. I didn’t attend BB when I was growing up and it felt like my friends that did only went along to get to play for the BB football team on a Saturday. 

So, I confess that I was pleasantly surprised (and perhaps a little rebuked) to see how bold the BB’s mission and vision still are in terms of the commitment to the Christian faith and the desire to see young people experiencing life to the full as they encounter a relationship with Jesus Christ. I had probably expected something blander.

However, as I’ve reviewed input to questionnaires and surveys and met lots of great people across the organisation, I’ve also observed that the BB comprises a broad range of attitudes in relation to what the aims and priorities should be.  

There are those who are fully committed to the stated mission, and their core motivation is to root the BB experience firmly in the Christian faith so that young people might come to know Jesus for themselves. Others appear less enthusiastic and seem to have little conviction around “advancing Christ’s kingdom”.

If that observation is in any way accurate, it represents a significant risk to the organisation since it is not simply a difference in opinion around how to reach the same goal, it’s a far more fundamental divergence in views about what the organisation stands for.

I’ve been really impressed by how passionate people within the BB are about the organisation and how committed they are to it. Many have invested huge chunks of their lives in serving their Company, Battalion, District or Area. That passion and commitment can be a great strength when people gather around a shared purpose and are pulling in the same direction.  

But in some cases, it seems that people care more about preserving the organisation as an institution, the status and standing of their part of the institution, or their own role, than they do about serving the young people for whom it exists and encouraging them to experience “life to the full”.

As the BB seeks to arrest a decline in membership numbers over many decades, and in the number of active Companies, a clear sense of shared purpose, and a confidence and conviction in that purpose, is vital. How that is worked out might look a bit different in different contexts across the country, but the overarching aims must be the same.

With that in place, I do believe there are big opportunities for the BB to support Churches in mission and outreach within communities across the country, and wish the organisation well for the future.