Pathfinders is a worldwide organization of young people (ages 10-15) sponsored by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Young people of any religious persuasion, or none, are welcome and encouraged to join the organization. The Pathfinder organization leads its members into a growing, redemptive relationship with God. It helps to build its members into responsible, mature individuals and involves them in active, selfless service.
Pathfinder Pledge:
By the grace of God, I will be pure and kind, and true. I will keep the Pathfinder Law. I will be a servant of God and a friend to man.
Pathfinder Law:
The Law is for me to:
Keep the morning watch
Do my honest part
Care for my body,
Keep a level eye
Be courteous and obedient
Walk softly in the sanctuary,
Keep a song in my heart,
Go on God’s errand.
Aim
The Advent Message to All the World in My Generation
Motto
The Love of Christ Compels Me
TRACKS
PERSONAL GROWTH
Understanding that God values each Pathfinder contributes to Pathfinders’ development of positive self-worth and encourages confidence in the abilities given to them by God. To aid Pathfinders in this understanding, the Personal Growth track encourages each Pathfinder to have a personal relationship with Jesus through daily a devotional life, Bible study, and prayer. In this track, Pathfinders also learn how to apply the Pathfinder pledge and law to words, actions, and beliefs.
SPIRITUAL DISCOVERY
Hearing stories of God’s love, protection, and guidance in the lives of real people makes God come alive for Pathfinders. In the Spiritual Discovery track, Pathfinders grow spiritually through the study of real people in the Bible and Christian history.
SERVING OTHERS
Focusing on the needs of others encourages Pathfinders to embrace all of God’s diverse family. In the Serving Others track, Pathfinders experience the joy of service through outreach, friendship evangelism, and other church or community activities.
MAKING FRIENDS
Establishing friendships promotes positive spiritual and social growth. In the Making Friends track, Pathfinders learn how to be a friend to others, to the community, and to the planet. Pathfinders have the opportunity to model the positive benefits of a Christian lifestyle, develop and apply morals and values, and demonstrate civic responsibility.
HEALTH AND FITNESS
Learning God’s principles for a healthy life teaches Pathfinders of God’s concern for their physical, emotional, and mental health. In the Health and Fitness track, Pathfinders apply health and fitness principles, share these principles with others, and practice basic first aid and safety procedures.
NATURE STUDY
Exploring nature is an exciting way for Pathfinders to experience God. In the Nature Study track, Pathfinders learn about God through observation of nature, time spent outdoors, and environmental stewardship.
OUTDOOR LIVING
Practicing outdoor living skills is a fun and challenging way for Pathfinders to develop life and problem-solving tools. In the Outdoor Living track, Pathfinders perform outdoor skills, solve outdoor challenges, and participate in outdoor team activities.
HONOR ENRICHMENT
Once a Pathfinder has completed an investiture achievement level, she or he can then complete the honor enrichment and other advanced-level activities for that investiture achievement level. Honor enrichment promotes personal growth and allows Pathfinders to explore their interests by earning new honors, learning new skills, and studying new content areas. Honor enrichment provides opportunities for Pathfinders’ accomplishments to be acknowledged publicly by the church and community. Public acknowledgment increases Pathfinders’ sense of self-worth.
A Brief History of Pathfinders
A diverse group of youth-focused, God-loving, ministry-minded individuals in various locations created “Pathfinder-like” clubs that eventually grew into the ministry we now know as Pathfinders.
The first Pathfinder Club of record was in Anaheim, California, directed by John McKim and Willa Steen. This club began in the late 1920s and ran through the 1930s. In 1944, McKim died, and the Steens had moved. In 1930, Lester and Ione Martinm, with co-directors Theron & Ethel Johnston, began a club in Santa Ana, California.
Both of these first clubs were in the Southeastern California Conference and encouraged by youth director Guy Mann and his associate Laurance A. Skinner. For several years, there were no clubs of record.
In 1946, John H. Hancock, then the youth director for Southeastern California Conference, started a club in Riverside, California. John designed the Pathfinder triangle emblem and got a ministerial student, Francis Hunt, to direct the club. Both John and his wife, Helen Hancock, taught honors.
By 1947-48, Southern California Conference began having Pathfinder clubs—the first at Glendale, with Lawrence Paulson as director. About the same time, the Central California Conference, under the direction of youth director Henry T. Bergh, began their Pathfinder program—starting 23 clubs that first year.
Beginning with the God-directed program called Pathfinder Clubs in California, the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist church adopted the program. It thus, in 1950, became an official worldwide organization of the Adventist church and grew rapidly.
Pathfinders is now a global ministry affecting thousands (if not millions) of young people worldwide.
Read more in The Pathfinder Story, available as a book or as an e-file, in both English and Spanish at AdventSource.
Article Contributed by Dixie Plata, Pathfinder historian.