Frequently Asked Questions

The Royal Rangers program has been taking boys through the process of growth into Christlike manhood for over 50 years. Since 1962 we’ve pursued the goal to evangelize, equip, and empower the next generation of Christlike men and lifelong servant leaders.

The Royal Rangers program offers weekly meetings, service projects, and year-round activities to give boys opportunities to make new friends, have fun together, and connect with his Creator and explore the divine plan for his life. Leaders utilize a time-tested advancement system that meets boys where they are developmentally to help them grow as disciples, become leaders, and develop confidence through fun and engaging activities.

The following information provides an overview of the Royal Rangers program.  For information specific to the Royal Rangers program at your church, please contact your church leadership.

Membership Requirements

The membership requirements for Royal Rangers can be found on our New Members page. Most churches do not require that a boy attend their weekly church services in order to participate in their Royal Rangers program, but the local church ultimately determines the participation standards for their ministries, including Royal Rangers.

Spiritual Growth

Our goal is to come alongside parents to help them raise godly sons. The Royal Rangers ministry is designed to help boys develop godly friendships, learn valuable skills, do fun things together, serve others, and grow in Christ. We pursue these objectives by following a structured, age-specific advancement system for each age group.

• Each weekly meeting includes a Bible lesson and/or devotional message, presented by the Group Leader. These lessons form the foundation of spiritual mentoring that is the central focus of the entire program.
• Devotional messages are typically presented at all outpost, district, and national Royal Rangers events. Testimonies abound of boys who accepted Christ as their Savior, were called into ministry, or rededicated their lives to Christ during a spiritual service at a Royal Rangers event.
• Men share their faith with boys and speak into their lives through casual interaction as they do fun things together – “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Deuteronomy 6:6-7  Spiritual mentoring is the heart of the Royal Rangers program.

All official Royal Rangers Bible lessons and devotional messages are included in the Royal Rangers curriculum and adhere to the doctrinal positions of the Assemblies of God. However, local leaders are empowered to substitute or modify those lessons as needed to align with the doctrinal standards of their church in situations where those positions may differ.

Activities

Each church determines the types of activities their groups will enjoy based on the needs and interests of their boys. Activities typically include camp outs, sporting events, craft projects, field trips, etc. These activities are often related to the skills the group is currently working to develop as part of their advancement system.

Safety

The Royal Rangers ministry provides churches with a variety of resources to ensure a safe environment. These include training, guidelines for developing safe activities for the boys, bullying prevention, and recruiting and screening godly, mature leadership. Leadership standards for Royal Rangers can be found on our Leaders page.

Gender-Specific Format

God created men and women with special differences. When a boy understands what it means to be a godly man, he aspires to the design that God intended A single-gender classroom has many benefits, but the greatest of these is for a boy to feel safe and secure in his discovery of who God intended him to be. This happens best when being mentored by a man he respects.

Parental Involvement

As with many church and community-based programs, parental involvement comes in a variety of forms. Parents are encouraged to meet with church leaders to discover how they may volunteer as group leaders, provide support for various activities, or help in other ways. Parents are encouraged to support their boy’s efforts as he learns new skills and grows in leadership.

Cost

It is recommended that every boy have a handbook, which provides valuable information about the program, advancement system, uniforms, and more. Multiple uniform options are available and are determined by your outpost. Other financial issues may vary from one church to another. It is therefore recommended that you communicate with the group leader for details. To better understand how you can contribute to the program to ensure every boy has what he needs and has a quality experience, please visit with church leadership.

Unique Benefits

Royal Rangers ministry is the premier church-based mentoring program for kindergarten through high school boys in the world. While other boy’s programs have their own unique sets of strengths, no other program has the variety of activities, a focused discipleship track, and a 5O-year proven track record of helping boys become godly men who are influential in the church, home, and world.

Royal Rangers seeks to take boys on the journey to “live the adventure” of the Christlike life. We’re glad you’re on this journey with us.

Are you ready for the adventure of a lifetime?

If so, you’re in the right place. Royal Rangers is a small-group ministry for guys in grades K-12 that provides a variety of opportunities for fun and adventure as you make new friends, learn new skills, and grow into the man you were created to be.

Objectives

Our goal in Royal Rangers is to introduce you to what we call the “seven experiences” of Royal Rangers:

CONNECT with friends
DO fun activities
GROW in your relationship with God
LEARN new things in interactive ways
BELONG to a community of Christlike men
LEAD yourself and influence others
SERVE others selflessly

These seven experiences are reflected in everything we do in Royal Rangers – meetings, Bible studies, service projects, camp outs, games – everything. The way they are represented is determined by your outpost leaders, and that may vary from one outpost to another. But collectively, these seven experiences represent a process and pathway for growth into true Christlike manhood.

Outpost Structure

The Royal Rangers program within your church is referred to as an “outpost”. Your outpost may consist of one or more of the following age groups:

Ranger Kids – boys in grades K-2
Discovery Rangers – boys in grades 3-5
Adventure Rangers – boys in grades 6-8
Expedition Rangers – boys in grades 9-12
Most outposts hold meetings weekly, usually on Wednesday or Sunday nights. These meetings typically include Bible studies, games, and special activities based on some kind of skill, such as archery, photography, skateboarding, auto mechanics or carpentry. These activities typically relate to “skill merits”, a type of award that serves as part of the Royal Rangers advancement system.

Advancement System

The advancement system is a sequential process that provides recognition for your accomplishments as you achieve specific milestone in the program. You will receive a series of awards as you complete the necessary requirements and earn specified combinations of three types of merits:

Skill Merits – awards earned for demonstrating specified skills, as previously described
Bible Merits – awards earned for completing a specified number of Bible lessons that help you explore God’s Word and grow into true Christlike manhood
Leadership Merits – awards earned a part of a leadership development process that helps you become a lifelong servant leader
The awards you earn can be displayed on the Royal Rangers uniform or in other ways as determined by your outpost.

Start Your Adventure Today

If you are looking for an outpost in your area, our Outpost Locator feature can help you find your options. Please note that since Royal Rangers is a church-based ministry, program specifics such as meeting times and locations may vary from one church to another. To learn more about the program at a specific church, we recommend that you contact the church directly using the contact information provided by the Outpost Locator.

If the locator doesn’t identify any outposts in your area, it’s still possible some churches near you may have Royal Rangers, but their information in our records may be out of date. We therefore suggest that you contact the Assemblies of God churches in your area to ask them if they have a Royal Rangers program.

Additional information on finding an outpost, starting a new outpost, or starting your own personal adventure with Christ can be found on our Getting Started page.

Get ready for an adventure for the days ahead of you will be just that! You will be challenged to grow into the man you were created to be. God created you for a purpose and He has a plan for your life and your future. That plan will lead you into the truest, fullest form of manhood – Christlike manhood!

So let’s hit the trail, and let the adventures begin!

Royal Ranger Leader Information

The Royal Rangers program provides opportunities for men and boys to enjoy a variety of fun activities around interests they commonly enjoy. The program is organized into four age groups:

• Ranger Kids – boys in grades K-2
• Discovery Rangers – boys in grades 3-5
• Adventure Rangers – boys in grades 6-8
• Expedition Rangers – boys in grades 9-12

Most outposts hold meetings weekly, usually on Wednesday or Sunday nights. These meetings typically include Bible studies, games, and special activities based on some kind of skill, such as archery, photography, skateboarding, auto mechanics or carpentry. These activities typically relate to “skill merits”, a type of award that serves as part of the Royal Rangers advancement system.

The advancement system is a sequential process that provides recognition for a boys accomplishments in the program. Boys receive a series of awards as they complete the necessary requirements and earn specified combinations of three types of merits:

• Skill Merits – awards earned for demonstrating specified skills, as previously described
• Bible Merits – awards earned for completing a specified number of Bible lessons that help boys explore God’s Word and grow into true Christlike manhood
• Leadership Merits – awards earned a part of a leadership development process that helps boys become lifelong servant leaders

The awards earned can be displayed on the Royal Rangers uniform or in other ways as determined by your outpost.

Our goal in Royal Rangers is to introduce every boy to what we call the “seven experiences” of Royal Rangers:

• CONNECT with friends
• DO fun things with friends
• GROW in Christlike manhood
• LEARN new things in interactive ways
• BELONG to something big
• LEAD yourself and others
• SERVE God, your church, and your fellow man

Come join us on the adventure as we mentor the next generation into true Christlike manhood. Let’s hit the trail!

For More Information

• Qualifications for Royal Rangers Leaders
• Women Leaders in Royal Rangers
• Starting an Outpost
• Terms of Use & Minimum Program Requirements

Royal Rangers in Your Church

The Royal Rangers program is an activity-based, small group church ministry for mentoring future men, grades K-12 with a mission to evangelize, equip, and empower the next generation of Christlike men and lifelong servant leaders. It provides Christlike character formation and servant leadership development for boys and young men in a highly relational and fun environment. Simple and flexible, it’s a cross-generational ministry that interconnects well with children, youth, and adult ministries and fits easily into the fabric of pastoral vision and into the flow of church ministries.

The Royal Rangers program affirms the male hands-on, interactive learning style by featuring an intentional discipleship journey for boys and young men based on their unique design, needs, and interests. Every meeting, outing, or service activity is designed to encourage boys and young men in their walk with God.

We provide men with the tools to model Christlike manhood as they mentor boys on a Bible-based, Christ-centered, Spirit-empowered journey to maturity in the faith. Boys learn to study and apply what the Bible says about integrity, doctrine, biblical worldview, cultural issues, and manhood. In addition, the Royal Rangers ministry molds boys into servant leaders, teaching them vital social, equipping, attitude, leadership, and service skills.

Getting Started

The process for starting a new Royal Rangers outpost can be an invigoration experience of dreaming and vision casting of all the wonderful things God will do through your church and program. But as with any new endeavor, the success of your new outpost will depend largely on the foundations you lay during those early days of planning and preparation. In order to ensure your program begins will a strong foothold we’ve created a body of resources to help you get your program started. Visit StartRoyalRangers.com to learn more.

StartRoyalRangers.com