Ten years later, in 1893, the word "Obedience" was added into the BB Object. This is also the version of BB Object that I was taught in 1994 when I joined the Boys' Brigade in Malaysia.
"The advancement of Christ's Kingdom among Boys and the promotion of habits of Obedience, Reverence, Discipline, Self-Respect, and all that tends towards a true Christian Manliness."
Several years later (exact year not sure), the BB Object in the Boys' Brigade in Malaysia became:
"The advancement of Christ's Kingdom among Members and the promotion of habits of Obedience, Reverence, Discipline, Self-Respect, and all that tends towards a true Christian Character."
This change from "Boys" to "Members" was due to the admission of girls into the Brigade. Although in my opinion, it would be more meaningful to have "Boys and Girls" instead of "Members", nevertheless, I came to accept that this will be the BB Object that I have to pass it down to the next generation of members.
Just a few days ago, I was shocked to know that there is a suggestion to further change the BB Object of the Boys' Brigade in Malaysia more drastically that I could ever thought of and it's something like:
"The object shall be pursued by the development of the upmost potential of members in a holistic manner; socially, physically, intellectually and spiritually and the promotion of habits of Obedience, Reverence, Discipline, Self-Respect, and all that tends towards a true noble Character."
Firstly, I cannot but felt pity for all the new members who will be joining the Boys' Brigade in the future that they have to memorise a much longer BB Object, not yet taking into account the understanding and appreciation of the content. Even with the current and shorter version, I have encountered so much difficulties in helping new recruits to memorise the BB Object correctly.
Secondly, on the technicality, the BB Object is the mission statement of the Brigade. It clearly states the objective and goal that the Brigade envisioned to impact upon boys (and later including girls). However, it would be rather weird to also include the means of achieving the objective in the mission statement. Why would the BB Object need to specifically include socially, physically, intellectually and spiritually; and isn't holistic sufficiently illustrate all these aspects?
Thirdly and the most important, where is the Christian Manliness or Christian Character that the Brigade envisioned upon for the past 125 years? This has been the highest focus of the Brigade that is to train boys according to the Christian principles (and not converting them to become Christian. To me, the decision to become a Christian is a personal decision and the Brigade only trained according to the Christian-based principles).
Is noble the same as Christian?
I cannot helped but felt disappointed. The Boys' Brigade in Malaysia has finally taken a reversal route to follow the Boys Scout. From history, we know that Boys Scout is a movement that originated from the Boys' Brigade, minus the religious value. Therefore, the act of removing the "Christian" value in the mission statement of the Boys' Brigade in Malaysia is very much adopting the principles of Boys Scout. Isn't that a move backward?
More importantly, by replacing Christian with noble, does this change signaled a shift in the philosophy of training in the Boys' Brigade. If nothing else but the wording of the BB Object changed, then how are the members going to reconcile the Christian-based training imparted upon them with the understanding of that being a noble-based training? It's like adopting one training style and yet conducting another training style.
Being a Christian, we pronounced our faith openly. We can't be ashamed of what we believe and yet not dare not publicly acknowledged it. Isn't that what Jesus reminded us in the Bible that if we are ashamed of acknowledging Him, He will also be ashamed of acknowledging us in front of the Father?
The biggest question of all is whether the change from "Christian" to "noble" as the ultimate aim of the BB Object, is after all an act of wanting to be seen less "religious" so as to attract more Boys and Girls to join the Boys' Brigade or merely heading for a different direction in the philosophy of training the next generation of Boys and Girls in Malaysia?
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