I live in a historic Mormon center. This is a place that's important to members since a centerpiece event of the faith's culture happened there. Multiple times a month I'm across the street from a place that busloads of people visit.

When the LDS church left the BSA it disassociated itself with the greater community and the impact has been one that would surprise most members. Outside of causing financial problems for the organization it could have ended up being the best thing ever for the BSA and its ability to keep existing. There's subtle signs that membership five years after is stronger in coed packs and linked troops, that parents may not put their daughters into the program in the same numbers as boys but they like a program that is inclusive.

Leaving the BSA could end up being a line in the sand for the LDS faith, where you can look at certain events and see the organization change.

Mission work is about having a conversation. The single most important skill of sales isn't to know your topic, it's to know how to begin a conversation without needing to include it rather than say the more appropriate version of "Hello! Would you like to change religions? I have a free book written by Jesus." In this context being a Scout served as an icebreaker across nearly every community. There's Scouts everywhere in the world.

https://apnews.com/article/us-news-ap-top-news-ut-state-wire-medical-marijuana-reinventing-faith-bd0129a803df40f08e0240d75dd66f2b

The reality there is we didn’t really leave them; they kind of left us

If the LDS church is to not shrink into irrelevance it needs to stop going to church, in a matter of speaking.

If the BSA, an organization that tailored its policies to the LDS church, stopped being relevant, how is it able to function in modern society at all?

https://www.axios.com/2023/09/07/boy-scouts-mormon-netflix-sex-abuse-documentary

A Boy Scouts of America whistleblower says administrators blocked proposed child protection measures because they feared objections from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Leaving the BSA could have been the canary in the coal mine that everyone missed. But to repeat a point, in most of the US no one cares and many would celebrate it.

The church doesn't need to become more secular, but its approach to how to exist in the world needs to.