Girl Scouts and Faith

Everything in Girl Scouting is based on the Girl Scout Promise and Law, which includes many of the principles and values common across religions. So while we are a secular organization, Girl Scouts has always encouraged girls to take spiritual journeys via their faiths' religious recognitions. There are various resources here to assist you and your Girl Scouts in engaging in faith-based activities.

For questions about Girl Scouts and faith or anything on this page, please send an e-mail.

Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont Programs

My Promise, My Faith Virtual Sessions

GSCP2P is offering council-led, virtual sessions for girls who want to earn their My Promise, My Faith pin. Each year you can earn this pin. Check our online calendar for upcoming sessions.

Girls of Faith Event

GSCP2P's next Girls of Faith program is scheduled for 2024. The event committee welcomes anyone interested in participating in the planning for the program. Adults and girls in high school are welcome to join. Contact Customer Care at info@girlscoutsp2p.org to express interest.

Share with our council! Submit this form, so we can celebrate your faith-based program and award accomplishments.

Other Faith-Based Program Opportunities

Girl Scouts Celebrate Faith Toolkit (Girl Scout Sunday)

Girl Scout Week is a time when we shout our Girl Scout pride from the rooftops! It’s also a time when many troops celebrate the connections between Girl Scouting and their faith, learn more about other faiths and thank faith partners for their support throughout the year. Girls can join in the festivities on three specially designated dates (or a day of your choosing):

Girl Scout Sunday: Sunday March 12, 2023
Girl Scout Jummah: Friday March 17, 2023
Girl Scout Sabbath/Shabbat: Friday March 17 – Saturday March 18, 2023

Whether they participate in a worship service, plan an activity before or after the service or organize a service project, your girls can honor those meaningful connections in lots of ways! Check out these resources to help you plan, promote and carry out your event with your faith partner.

Girl Scouts Celebrate Faith Flyers: Add your event details to these customizable fliers and ask your faith partner to share in their newsletter or bulletin.
Bulletin Inserts
Girl Scout Sunday
Girl Scout Jummah
Girl Scout Sabbath
Girl Scouts Celebrate Faith (general)
Sample Order of Service Ideas: Encourage your girls to play an active role in your house of worship’s service! Work with your faith partner to select the best options for your event. Click here for service ideas.
Activities Tip Sheet: Try one of these activities before or after the worship service and during Girl Scout Week. As always, team up with your faith partner to find an option that works for everyone.
PowerPoint Inserts: Customize these sample PowerPoint slides and ask if your faith partner can include them in a worship service slide show to promote your event.
Sample Prayers: Share these sample Girl Scout-focused prayers and sample speech with your faith partner. Please work with your faith partner to identify the best options for your event.
Iron-On Embroidered Patches: Make your Girl Scouts Celebrate Faith event something your troop won’t forget—with a patch! Patches are available at your council store and include: Girl Scout Sunday, Girl Scout Jummah, Girl Scout Sabbath and Girl Scout Faith (for any faith celebration or faith event, including interfaith).

Here are some additional tips for planning your event.

Work closely with your faith partner. Teaming up will help event planning and promotion go smoothly and deepen the connection between your troop and your faith partner.
Start early. Houses of worship will appreciate the extra time to incorporate your event into their worship schedule!
Include pre- and post-activities. Events before and after the worship service are a great way to share the benefits of Girl Scouting with faith families and give back to your faith partner. You might do a service project or host a cookie booth and/or cookies and punch reception after the service —check out the activities tip sheet for more ideas.
Promote your event. Spread the word through social media and neighborhood channels. Ask your faith partner to promote the event in their newsletters or bulletins. And give your Girl Scout council a heads up too: they may amplify through their channels.
Thank your faith partner after the event. Faith partners will appreciate a note of thanks after your event, especially one they can share with their community.

Be sure to adhere to all social health guidelines when planning/executing these activities. Have an idea you want to share? E-mail Alberta Swain.

Want to tag your Girl Scout Sunday photos so we can share them on social media? Use hashtag #GSSundayP2P.

Resources
Ideas for Girls to Celebrate Their Faith During Girl Scout Week
Congregational Leadership E-mail Template
Girls & Faith Sensitive Issues
Girl Scout Sunday Bulletin Inserts

If you are interested in a customized bulletin insert for use throughout the year, please contact info@girlscoutsp2p.org.

My Promise, My Faith

My Promise, My Faith
Girls of all grade levels can earn the My Promise, My Faith pin, which complements existing religious recognitions and allows girls to further strengthen the connection between their faith and Girl Scouts. Once each year, a girl can earn the My Promise, My Faith pin by carefully examining the Girl Scout Law and tying it directly to tenets of her faith. Requirements for this pin are included in The Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting handbook for all levels.

Want to tag girls on social media who have earned their My Promise, My Faith pin? Use hashtag #MPMFP2P.

Click here for the My Promise, My Faith fact sheet.

Need to order a My Promise, My Faith pin? Visit your local council shop or shop online.

Virtual Resources for My Promise, My Faith

Council-Led Programming: Did you know that My Promise, My Faith has gone virtual? GSCP2P is offering virtual sessions to girls who want to earn their pin. Register for a session using our online calendar.
Facilitating Your Own My Promise, My Faith Workshop: Would your troop or service unit like to host their own My Promise, My Faith activity? Below are resources to help you with your own virtual event. This program can be customized as your troop sees fit and personalized to a certain audience. If you have any questions or would like additional support materials for your virtual event such as marketing items, participant communications and other support materials, please contact Alberta Swain.
My Promise, My Faith PowerPoint Presentation
My Promise, My Faith Facilitator Guide
My Promise, My Faith Participant Worksheet

Would you like to submit your faith-based program and award accomplishments to our council to be recognized each year? You can find the form here.

Religious Recognitions

Created by national religious organizations to encourage the spiritual growth of youth members, religious recognition programs reinforce many of the values integral to Girl Scouting and help girls grow stronger in, and learn more about, their chosen faith.

Each religious organization develops and administers its own program. The brochure "To Serve God" lists the religious recognitions created by various faith groups. You can find this brochure, a video explaining religious recognition programs and other resources for collaborating with faith communities at P.R.A.Y. Publishing.

Some religious organizations are not affiliated with P.R.A.Y. or may not have a national office. To learn about their religious recognitions, contact local leaders.

Would you like to submit your faith-based program and award accomplishments to our council to be recognized each year? You can find the form here.

Congratulations to our most recent P.R.A.Y. award recipients:

Makenna B., Girl Scout Troop 13211
Makenze B., Girl Scout Troop 13211
Amelia H., Girl Scout Troop 13041
Avery H., Girl Scout Troop 1061
Emily H., Girl Scout Troop 1061
Aubrey P., Girl Scout Troop 13211
Claire S., Girl Scout Troop 13211
Olivia S., Girl Scout Troop 13211
Miriam T., Girl Scout Troop 13401

P.R.A.Y. Community Partner Program

P.R.A.Y. Program
Girl Scouts of the USA partners with P.R.A.Y. (Programs of Religious Activities with Youth) as a resource for faith-based programs. You can learn more about P.R.A.Y. here.

Other religious organizations may not be affiliated with P.R.A.Y. or may not have a national office. To learn about other local religious organizations, contact your local leaders.

P.R.A.Y. Patch Series
Bible Basics RP3 is a patch series from P.R.A.Y. It is designed to help families, Sunday school classes and Scouting groups get into the Bible. Visit our Badges & Patch Programs webpage for details about registration for this series (January 30, February 27, March 27 and April 24).

Resources
P.R.A.Y. Awards Chart
P.R.A.Y. Awards Brochure
P.R.A.Y. Newsletters
P.R.A.Y. Facebook Page
P.R.A.Y. YouTube Channel

Faith Emblem Virtual Learning Resources & 30-Day Challenge

Are you looking for awards to complete on your own as part of your Girl Scout experience? In support of Protestant youth, Programs of Religious Activities With Youth (P.R.A.Y.), has developed additional resources for families and youth to aid in completion of religious emblems at home and foster their faith formation during this time of social distancing. Religious emblems meet the requirements for My Promise, My Faith requirements for Girl Scouts of the USA.

P.R.A.Y. Virtual Library
While we may like the convenience of a church or Girl Scout troop that provides a set schedule and instruction, the P.R.A.Y. awards are perfect to be done at home with the family. During this challenging time, there may be an unexpected opportunity for parents to share their faith with their children and grow in faith together. Reading and discussing Scripture to complete requirements will create natural space for spontaneous dialogue and ways to connect with your children. Make your family’s faith journey a priority! P.R.A.Y. has a new online library of resources for virtual learning for parents, counselors, and clergy.

The P.R.A.Y. YouTube Channel can assist parents who may wish to serve as counselors and help guide their children to completion of their religious emblem. Each workbook lesson is highlighted, explained in depth with hints and helps for those who might be serving in the counselor role for the first time.

In addition to the video series on YouTube, P.R.A.Y. is also pleased to introduce 30-Day Challenges for every P.R.A.Y. program level. When completed according to the prescribed schedule, with the help from a parent or counselor at home, youth can complete the requirements and share with their family the work toward achievement of their religious emblem.

P.R.A.Y. Video Series- 30 Day Challenges
The challenges below instruct parents/caregivers on to how to help their girls work toward achieving their specific P.R.A.Y. award

For additional help with these awards, please reach out to P.R.A.Y. at 314-845-3318 or info@praypub.org.

GSUSA Faith-Based Opportunities

Virtual Interfaith Event Series

Girl Scouts and our faith partners hosted a virtual interfaith celebration that’s now available for playback. Use these recorded sessions while earning the My Promise, My Faith pin and learn about other faiths!

Session 1: Click here to view the playback!
Interfaith Celebration
Orthodox Christian speakers

Session 2: Click here to view the playback!
Buddhist speakers
Catholic speakers
Lutheran speakers

Session 3: Click here to view the playback!
Baha’i speakers
Islamic speakers
Jewish speakers
United Methodist speakers

Faith-Based Programs Coordinator

Created by the National Interfaith Committee for Girl Scouting, the Faith-Based Programs Coordinator (FBPC) was developed to help better integrate religious recognitions into the Girl Scout program. Religious recognitions help girls connect their Girl Scouting experience with their faith and strengthen the connection between Girl Scouting and faith communities. You can find more FBPC information here or on the GSUSA website at Girl Scouts and Faith.

Additional Faith-Based Resources

New Troops & Meeting Places

Are you starting a new troop and looking for a meeting place? Consider reaching out to your local churches. P.R.A.Y. and its denominational partners have developed resources to help cultivate potential partners on connecting their faith to youth through Girl Scouting. When Girl Scouting is viewed as youth ministry, congregations experience outreach, leadership development and growth. Use the specific or general flyers below to help clergy expand their programs by highlighting “To Serve God." More denominations will be added as material is approved. For more resources and updates, visit the P.R.A.Y. website.

Adult Volunteers & Adult Religious Recognitions

Faith organizations regularly partner with Girl Scout councils to more closely link their religious recognitions with the national My Promise, My Faith pin. Adult volunteers advise girls along their personal faith journey and help them strengthen their own understanding of their faith.

As part of this, adult recognitions are given to adults for outstanding service to youth through both their church and one of the national youth-serving agencies. Adult awards are not earned like youth awards- an outside party must nominate an adult to receive an award by submitting the required applications, letter of recommendation and resume of activities. Self and spouse nominations will not be accepted. Nominations cannot be made posthumously.

To learn more about these awards and the resources for nominating someone, please click here.

What is Faith-Centered Girl Scouting?

The research is clear – a girl’s skills and abilities bloom when she is around other girls, away from school pressures and social cliques. Through Girl Scouts, she takes on new challenges and learns by doing, in an atmosphere of collaboration and goodwill. The Girl Scout Leadership Experience can be especially meaningful when delivered in a faith-centered context.

All Girl Scout programs may be enriched to include religious education, principles of a girl’s individual faith and elements of her faith tradition. Through the efforts of qualified volunteers, including members of the clergy, the Girl Scout Leadership Experience can strongly support a girl’s growth in her faith, at the same time providing her with the opportunity to gain new skills and build self-esteem.

Sample Activities:

Brownie – Earn the Philanthropist badge and learn what your faith tradition teaches about helping others.
Junior – Earn the Playing in the Past badge by learning all about prominent women in your faith from another time period.

Cadette – Earn the Comic Artist Badge when you create a comic strip illustrating a favorite story from your faith.
Senior – Create your own badge based on your faith and interests.
Ambassador – Earn the prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award by putting your faith into action and developing a project to positively impact your community.
My Promise, My Faith Pin – Carefully examine the Girl Scout Law and compare it to tenets of your own faith. Girl Scouts of all levels may earn this pin.

Submitting Girl & Adult Religious Recognitions to GSCP2P

Congratulations! We would love to share your hard work with your fellow Girl Scouts! Currently, the only official reporting we receive is from those Girl Scouts who participate and submit their award information to the P.R.A.Y. specific program they earn. We would like to recognize all girls and adults for their faith-based achievements so be sure to complete this form (with photo if possible) if one of the following applies to you:

Your Girl Scout has earned a faith-based award through your religious organization.
You (as an adult) have been awarded a faith-based award through your religious organization.
Your Girl Scout has earned the My Promise, My Faith pin, and you would like to be considered for marketing initiatives to help elevate faith-based activity opportunities with Girl Scouts.

Thank you for helping us share these important opportunities with others in our community! Do you know another Girl Scout who has earned a faith-based award? Please share this information with her.

Questions? E-mail us at info@girlscoutsp2p.org or call 800-672-2148.

Faith Partner Guide to Girl Scouting

Our Faith Partner Guide to Girl Scouting brochure is a resource designed to introduce you to the fundamentals of Girl Scouts and the various ways to celebrate faith with girls.