PATHFINDER LEADERSHIP AWARD ASSIGNMENTS

NAME: REBECCA LUMANO

DISTRICT: KAMULANGA MISSION

CHURCH:

QUESTION: Define “Discipline” and outline how you would correct a pathfinder who had been
involved in a fight, basing your argument on Christian discipline.
Discipline in simple terms can be defined as the practice of training people to obey rules or a
code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience. Or better still the practice of making
people obey rules or standards of behavior and punishing them when they do not.

While it is true that pathfinders can find themselves in misconducts or disobedience, they may
need to be corrected or rather disciplined so that they go back in the straight path. However
caution should be taken so that the misbehaving pathfinders may not lose track or feel unwanted
there is a Christian style in which discipline can be instilled them.

Our goal in disciplining the members of our Pathfinder Clubs ought to be to guide them as sons
and daughters of God; to show them our love and understanding; to teach them God’s character
as revealed in the order and discipline seen throughout the universe; to make them useful
members of the church and their country; and to help them respect their leaders and their parents.

In a situation where a pathfinder has engaged in a fight, discipline measures must be taken on
such a one with immediate effect so that they can be made to realise that what they have done is
wrong. In Christian discipline, such a child will called aside, have a short prayer with him or her
and showing calmness in speech, council the pathfinder with support from scripture and other
pathfinder materials them excuse them from participating in activities that day as a punishment
for the offence.

In Christian discipline, the child should be explained to what is expected of the Pathfinder as a
member of the club. This is going to help them acknowledge their mistakes and feel bad for
fighting and next time they may not repeat the same the same mistake.
When giving discipline to pathfinders, a leader should not be sided, both parties must be proven
guilty so that they can both feel the need to say sorry to one another.

To a fighting pathfinder, another mode of discipline would be the councilor tactfully reaching
out to the offender without getting mad at them but to show them the gravity of the offence they
have committed. A leader should never correct the pathfinder in anger but in love. To manifest
passion towards an erring child is to increase the evil, instead of remedying it. It arouses the
worst passions of the child and leads him to feel that that you do not care for him. He reasons
with himself that you cannot treat him so if you cared.
When a Pathfinder continues to misbelieve, he must face the realization that he is either going to
have to meet the standard of behavior or leave the group. He must understand and follow the
group rules closely. Suspending him from the club is okay for a month if he continues fighting
and the parents and during that one month suspension the director, deputy director and councilor
must be visiting the pathfinder at his home. The most important thing in Christian discipline is
showing love to the child who is being disciplined.
In conclusion, discipline is an act of making people obey rules, and punishing them when they do
not. A pathfinder that has been involved in a fight may be disciplined in a Christian manner, by
speaking words of love while making them acknowledge the wrong they did and helping them
creating in them a desire for right doing.