{"id":868,"date":"2010-02-12T10:25:07","date_gmt":"2010-02-12T15:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.foxborojaycees.org\/?page_id=868"},"modified":"2025-12-29T13:17:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T18:17:41","slug":"history-of-the-jaycee-creed","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.foxborojaycees.org\/?page_id=868","title":{"rendered":"The Jaycee Creed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We Believe:<\/p>\n<p>That Faith in God gives meaning and purpose to human life;<\/p>\n<p>That the brotherhood of men transcends the sovereignty of nations;<\/p>\n<p>That economic justice can best be won by free men through free enterprise;<\/p>\n<p>That government should be of laws rather than of men;<\/p>\n<p>That earth&#8217;s great treasure lies in human personality;<\/p>\n<p>And that service to humanity is the best work of life.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2>History<\/h2>\n<p>The year was 1946; the place, Milwaukee, Wisconsin: the event, the United States Junior Chamber National Convention. Visitors came from Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe and the Philippine Islands. It was here that the idea of a JC Creed was born.<\/p>\n<p>Past President of the Ohio Junior Chamber and National Vice President of the United States Junior Chamber C. William Brownfield realized at this convention that the organization did not have a Creed. He was inspired by the devotion of Junior Chamber members &#8220;to the purpose of serving mankind in a thousand different ways, right down at the grass roots where freedom lives or dies&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Brownfield saw Junior Chamber as &#8220;the potential for a new force in the world, one capable of changing the balance between victory or defeat for our chosen way of life in a time of crisis.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The actual writing of the Creed took place in July 1946 during a drive from Brownfield&#8217;s hometown of Columbus, Ohio, to his coal mine in New Lexington, a journey of about 75 minutes. He started that journey with a firm conviction in his mind to work on the Creed. It was during that trip that the following words came to mind and were put on paper:<\/p>\n<p>The brotherhood of man transcends the sovereignty of nations.<br \/>\nEconomic justice can best be won by free men through free enterprise.<br \/>\nGovernment should be of laws rather than of men.<br \/>\nEarth&#8217;s great treasure lies in human personality.<br \/>\nService to humanity is the best work of life.<\/p>\n<p>In 1950 the first line, &#8220;We believe that faith in God gives meaning and purpose to human life.&#8221; was added.<\/p>\n<p>Since it was written, Junior Chamber members all over the world recite the Creed at local national and international meetings and functions.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2>The Jaycee Creed and Benediction<\/h2>\n<p>(Used rarely; for VERY formal events and also at a memorial for a Jaycee who has passed away)<\/p>\n<p>President: Father, we are united by a common bond of faith, that man lives by the will<br \/>\nof his God, that God&#8217;s will for man is good; and that the life worthwhile<br \/>\nis lived in harmony with His eternal plan because:<\/p>\n<p>Response: We believe that faith in God gives meaning and purpose to human life:<\/p>\n<p>President: &#8220;Father, Man-made boundaries have been drawn, separating the human race<br \/>\ninto many nations. But across these divisions there is evidence of man&#8217;s<br \/>\nuniversal brotherhood because:<\/p>\n<p>Response: We believe that the brotherhood of man transcends the sovereignty of<br \/>\nnations:<\/p>\n<p>President: Father, Where economic improvement has been greatest, man has been free<br \/>\nto follow his dreams of self improvement and self fulfillment because:<\/p>\n<p>Response: We believe that economic justice can best be won by free men through<br \/>\nfree enterprise:<\/p>\n<p>President: Father, No one should be-above the law, and that the law should be the<br \/>\nsame for all people, no matter what status they hold in society because:<\/p>\n<p>Response: We believe that government should be of laws rather than of men:<\/p>\n<p>President: Father, True treasure lies in the hearts of men. It&#8217;s not the quantity nor the<br \/>\nlength of life that gives it zest, but the quantity of living, the<br \/>\nachievement we make in terms of human progress because:<\/p>\n<p>Response: We believe that earth&#8217;s great treasure lies in human personality:<\/p>\n<p>President: Father, Life lived unselfishly grows richer, deeper and fuller. Joy is more<br \/>\nenduring and peace of mind more certain. One knows in truth the<br \/>\ngreater benefit has been his own because:<\/p>\n<p>Response: We believe that service to humanity is the BEST WORK OF LIFE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We Believe: That Faith in God gives meaning and purpose to human life; That the brotherhood of men transcends the sovereignty of nations; That economic justice can best be won by free men through free enterprise; That government should be of laws rather than of men; That earth&#8217;s great treasure lies in human personality; And [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":778,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-868","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foxborojaycees.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foxborojaycees.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foxborojaycees.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foxborojaycees.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foxborojaycees.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=868"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.foxborojaycees.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60227,"href":"https:\/\/www.foxborojaycees.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/868\/revisions\/60227"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foxborojaycees.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foxborojaycees.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}