On a warm December night in a Centennial church, Ashton Steadman stepped onto a wooden bridge, taking his final ceremonial steps as a member of the Cub Scouts.

Ashton, 10, was following in the footsteps of countless young members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they metaphorically cross over into the Boy Scouts.

But unlike his father and grandfather before him, Ashton’s journey in the Scouts ended on that bridge.

On Jan. 1, the church will sever ties with the Boy Scouts, officially ending a 100-year relationship that shaped the lives of boys across the country. The loss of 400,000 young people — including thousands in Colorado — will significantly affect Boy Scout membership in the United States, dropping it to its lowest numbers since World War II. The exodus will happen as the organization contends with an onslaught of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by Scout leaders and faces possible bankruptcy at the national level.

Boy Scout leaders in Colorado promised a rebound, with an influx of girls now allowed to join the Scouts while turning to new fundraising and recruiting efforts. Meanwhile, the church prepares to launch a new global program for its youths — a bittersweet change for a denomination that has made scouting an integral part of boys’ experience for generations.

“It wasn’t a total surprise, but it’s still hard to know January 1 is coming,” said Elder Thomas Priday, Ashton’s grandfather and a senior Latter-day Saints leader in metro Denver. “That this would the be end of that formal relationship.”

Ending a century-old relationship

The split comes as the Boy Scouts have adapted to a shifting cultural landscape, opening their ranks to gay and female youths. Those changes mark a divergence from the church’s traditional stance on social issues.

“The reality there is we didn’t really leave them; they kind of left us,” Latter-day Saints senior leader M. Russell Ballard, who sits on the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, recently said about the split.

The official church statement, however, maintains that the split was driven by changing demographics: More than half of Latter-day Saints church members now live outside the U.S. and don’t have access to the Boy Scouts.

“We believe in uniformity,” Priday said, pushing back against the notion that cultural changes caused a rift. “We’re trying to make sure all our youth, whether in London or Lebanon, have a uniform program.”

Since the early 20th century, the Boy Scouts and Latter-day Saints have been inextricably linked. Churches automatically enrolled youths in the organization, and members of the faith make up about 20% of Scouts nationwide.

For Colorado’s Boy Scout councils, the split has led to significant membership losses.

Of the 32,000 youths in the Denver-area council, 6,000 are Latter-day Saints. The council expects about 20% to remain with the Scouts, with at least 19 troops finding new charters outside the Latter-day Saints, the council said in a statement.

In the Rocky Mountain region, which encompasses southern Colorado, the loss of some 300 of its 1,800 youths is “a little concerning,” said council Scout executive Philip Eborn. The influx of girls into the program will make up some of the difference, he said, while the local council has started going into schools, recruiting entire families instead of just the boys.

Still, money is a little tighter this year, Eborn said. In response, the council added a spring turkey sale to its annual fall popcorn sale to raise extra cash.

“We’ve had to kind of sharpen the knife,” he said. “We’re refining ourselves to figure out where we’re gonna go.”

The loss of Latter-day Saints comes at a particularly tumultuous time for the Boy Scouts of America. The organization already was struggling with declining membership. And looming is the threat of hundreds of lawsuits from former Scouts — including at least 16 from Colorado — alleging sexual abuse by troop leaders. That potential liability has led to discussions about bankruptcy on the national level and forced an 80% hike in membership fees to cover the rising cost of insurance.

“Bittersweet end”

As the New Year approaches, Latter-day Saints say the new church youth program will take some getting used to.

Ashton Steadman has been a Scout since he was 8 years old, showing up every Wednesday to knock off a different requirement to earn an Arrow of Light award, the highest Cub Scout honor. He especially enjoys the pinewood derby, racing his homemade wooden cars against his friends.

“It’s kind of weird to be at the end,” Ashton said inside the Centennial church, clad in his blue Cub Scout shirt adorned in multicolored pins and patches. One thing that helps: his friends from the troop will be joining him on the new adventure.

“I really like Scouting, but it’ll be fun to do the new program,” he said.

For Ben and Noell Chesney, one son will remain in the troop to earn his coveted Eagle Scout rank, while the younger one will join the new Latter-day Saints youth group.

“It’s strange to think about,” Ben Chesney, an Eagle Scout, said about the church cutting ties. “On Jan. 1, it’ll feel like something is missing.”

While the two organizations will no longer be formally intertwined, Colorado’s church members made clear that the relationship will remain strong. On Dec. 19, Priday penned a letter to the Scout executive of the Denver-area council, John Cabeza, expressing his appreciation of a century of close ties.

Priday has been involved in the Scouts for more than half that time. His three brothers were Scouts. His son was a Scout. Some of his best friends and mentors to this day he met in the Scouts. On that December day, he watched with pride as his grandson, Ashton, walked across that bridge.

What’s on the other side, however, remains to be seen.

“It’s been hard, it truly has,” Priday said. “It’s the bittersweet end of a really positive relationship. I can’t say enough about what Scouting has meant to me.”