9 Reasons why Awana is important to the long term health of the Church

As we begin the year 2020, I thought it might be good to remind some why you are serving in Awana, encourage others to consider starting an Awana ministry and a few others to relaunch or revision the Awana ministry at a church that either dropped Awana or is on life support. 

To be clear, when I say the word "Awana" in this blog, I don't necessarily mean the books, awards, game circle or uniforms that are typically associated with an Awana ministry. Those tools are certainly part of some Awana ministries, but not all. When I refer to "Awana" in this blog, I'm speaking of a fun, exciting, gospel centered, scripture rich legacy ministry that involves parents, trains teens to serve the church and develops adult leaders that create disciples who will propel the Church into the future. 

So, here are 9 reasons why Awana is important to the long term health of the Church.

1. First and foremost, children are important to Jesus. From the beginning to the end of God’s word, God speaks about the importance and worth of children.

• Matthew 18:1-5 says “At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

• Continuing on in verse 10 “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.

• Mark 10:13-16 13 Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. 15 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” 16 And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.

Because children are important to God, they should be important to us.

2. Children, even in the United States, are an “unreached people group”. In the ministry area that I serve, the state of Nevada, according to the US Census there are 887,000 children under the age of 18. Through the ministry of Awana, we are reaching between 3,000-4,000 of these children, there are other ministries and churches reaching more of these children, but nowhere near that 887,000. From a salvation standpoint, the reality is that there are a small group of these children that have received Jesus and are on their way to heaven, yet there is an even larger group of these children that have had NO chance to hear about the message of Jesus and their destiny most likely is hell. As ministry leaders, the question we must ask ourselves is are we comfortable with that fact, and more importantly what are we willing to do about it. To add to this, those 887,000 children are a moving number. Meaning every year, there are a new group of children entering and leaving that demographic, ie the children of today grow up, and an entirely new group of children and their eternal fate is up for grabs. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/NV

3. Evangelism is most effective among children. According to Barna Research, almost half of all Christians (43%) accepted Christ before age 13, and 2 out of every 3 born again Christians put their faith in Christ before age 18. What does that mean for our churches? Take a look around the seats of your santuary on Sunday morning and know that two thirds of those seats are filled by people who accepted Christ as a child. The other side of that coin, is that if the Church neglects robust children’s ministry, we are sacrificing the future of the Church. Juxtapose the health or unhealth of the children’s wing in many of our churches with the fact that there are more and more churches closing their doors every year and it causes a sober evaluation for the future of the Church in the US. https://www.barna.com/research/evangelism-is-most-effective-among-kids/

4.  Sunday morning attendance patterns are declining- There is a popular saying among many churches and children’s pastors, “Make Sunday morning the best hour of a child’s week”. At first glance, this seems encouraging, however, in light of the current attendance patterns there are several issues worth addressing in this line of thinking.

• With 168 hours in a week, is 1 hour a week/ 52 hours a year a realistic reality to increase the Biblical literacy of the children in your church? 
• Taking into account sports, sickness, family vacations, families desire to sleep in on Sunday morning occasionally, Barna research says the average child attends Sunday morning church an average of 1.7 times per month. This means that if our only strategy for child discipleship is Sunday morning, we now only have 20 hours a YEAR to evangelize and disciple our children. Considering children spend 6-8 hours a day at school, 3-4 hours a day on TV and social media, it is easy to see that we simply don’t have enough time to truly make an impact on the lives of the children in our churches. 

Bottom line, we can’t disciple children in our churches who aren’t there. Having a solid ministry option in addition to Sunday morning is vital to the discipleship of our children. Most pastors are already aware of this for their adult ministry as is seen in the rise of midweek small groups...why not midweek for kids?

5.  Awana teaches teenagers to serve. The harsh reality is that the church in the US can be very consumeristic, ie many church members want to know how the church can serve them as opposed to what can they do to serve the church.  The most common response I hear when asking a church how I can pray for them is “We need more volunteers”. A healthy Awana ministry, provides a steady stream of teenage volunteers to serve and indeed lead your children’ ministry. In addition, when a teenager prays with and leads a child to Christ, in many cases their faith is now in concrete. Serving is not a burden, but a discipleship opportunity for our teens. 

6. Awana forces the church to take its eyes off itself and reach out into the community- Everywhere I go, without exception, when a church has a strong healthy children’s ministry, that church is growing. If not, it is quite obvious that church is in a slow decline. Very simply, if there are no new members coming into the church, the church has no place to go but down. Having a fun, vibrant,  gospel centered ministry that is attracting to both children and families in your community is a great long term strategy to keep your church full. 

7. Awana can create a long term legacy ministry- Churches that have used Awana for years often have children, parents and grandparents all involved at the same time...WHAT A WIN! In my home church, our Awana club is governed not as a children’s ministry, but as a “Community Group”. The mission of our church is “To Follow Jesus and Make Disciples”, so our Awana club is aligned with that vision as a Community Group of children, teens, parents and grandparents who follow Jesus and make disciples. Indeed a healthy Awana club is a ministry that makes disciples who make disciples who make disciples.

8. Awana is a ministry that involves parents (and grandparents)- God’s plan is that parents are the real spiritual leaders of their children. Awana creates and encourages an atmosphere where parents and children learn about God together. Parents are encouraged to serve as volunteers, parents and children work together in a parent/ child activity workbook throughout the week which involves finding and discussing scripture, wrestling with theological issues and memorizing God’s word together. Creating an environment where parents and children work together as oppposed to a “drop off” mentality is a key ingredient to successful child discipleship. 

9. Because it works!- In 2006 Awana and Baylor University did a study to find out if Awana was effective as a ministry that raises children who upon adulthood were functioning, productive members of the church, ie regular attendance, giving, serving, reading their Bible and sharing their faith. The results...92.7 percent of Awana Alumni (as defined in this study) are still attending church at age 30. Download the study from the link below. I often tell people this success is not due to “Awana” per se, ie God doesn't give special favor to kids who wear Awana uniforms, but it does conclusively say this...weekly child discipleship, combined with loving and caring adults, combined with parental involvement produce lasting results for the Kingdom.
Alumni Survey https://drive.google.com/file/d/10RpCCkuVo-D7eHWrAhasK_AqsFuaJRQV/view?usp=sharing

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