I don't know how many of you have heard of AWANA. The name is an acronym for "Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed" taken from 2 Tim. 2:15. According to their website, "Awana is the leading ministry to help local churches reach children and youth with the gospel and train them to know, love and serve Christ. Awana blends Bible teaching, Scripture memorization and tons of fun."
Is Awana a good thing? There are those who defend it vehemently and those who argue that it's useless at best and detrimental at worst. I worked with Awana at my church several years ago, so I'm not speaking from a lack of experience. Additionally, my kids were in Awana for several years. I'm not speaking in a vacuum.
I understand the complaints. Awana offers little to no depth. They say they blend Bible teaching with the rest of what they do, but the Bible teaching is aimed at such a broad group that it typically doesn't have any real substance. The real core of Awana is Scripture memorization. That is done by rote. Pound through it. Commit it to memory. Don't examine it, study it, dig into it. Memorize it. Why? Because you can earn ribbons and awards and things.
I understand, but I don't necessarily agree with the complaints. Does Awana offer little depth? I agree that it does. Therefore it ought to be discontinued? I don't agree. I don't agree because of something David wrote: "Thy word have I laid up in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee" (Psa. 119:11). It would seem that David, a man after God's own heart, thought that it was valuable for life to collect God's Word in his heart. Three times in Psa. 119 David talks of meditating on God's Word. That means pulling it up in one's mind and mulling it over. It seems to me that the most efficient way to do this is to have it in one's mind. In other words, I think there is great value in memorizing Scripture, even if it is by rote, and even if it is by children who don't yet fully comprehend it.
Now, to be fair, Awana wants a leader to not merely have the kids spew verses back at you. They want the leaders to ask questions about what it means and how they understand it. That's a good thing, isn't it? I think so.
Is Awana the best thing for kids? That would be a reach. Is it less than optimum? That would be likely. Is it bad? That conclusion would be a mistake. Let me illustrate by way of a story. One day I found my son had cleared off all the trophies he had earned for memorization in Awana. I asked him why. He told me, "I shouldn't be rewarded for memorizing Scripture." He likely had a point. But there was another point there. "Let me tell you a secret," I told him. "Do you know what you do when you memorize Scripture? Just about any time I can point to in my life that I know God spoke to me, He did it with Scripture that I had memorized. Sometimes it was Scripture from when I was a kid, stuff I had long ago forgotten. But He was able to call it out of long lost memory banks and use it to tell me something He wanted me to know. When you memorize Scripture, you give God a vocabulary for your life."
Is it perfect? I obviously don't think so. But it is of value. It is certainly of greater value than sitting in front of a TV or video game for hours on end. It may not provide the depth of teaching that kids should have, but I have already ranted about the failure of parents to take the responsibility for being spiritually responsible for their kids. Is it the job of Awana to provide depth, or is it ours? Nothing is perfect. A good thing can be abused or mishandled. Fine. But I think there is innate value in inculcating children with Scripture, so I won't speak badly of Awana even if it is imperfect.
3 comments:
Is A.W.A.N.A. valuable; YES indeed
You know I too was an AWANA leader 'back in the day', I was even an AWANA Commandar (no you don't have to salute me) -- and what I found as an adult ... as the children were going through their routine of saying their memorized verses -- I too was learning them, hiding them in my heart. YES I asked the questions, sometimes about the 'true meaning' of the verse, not always...and what I found is that when the parents were involved with their child and helping them with the memorization than yes they got it. It was sad to see some kids come to 'club' unpreparped and hurry up and quickly 'memorize' a verse while they waited their turn. Was it hidden in those children's hearts -- for a moment, and like Stan said SOMEDAY when needed the Holy Spirit will bring it back to the mind of the 'child' who is probably now an adult.
YES AWANA has a lot of problems, well it did 'back in the day' -- maybe its changed. Haven't been to a club meeting in many years. I pray they have improved it and that the children are learning.
IF my grandkids were still living with me I am sure by now I would have found a church that I could take them to that offered it. You are again right Stan -- its better than the altertive -- TV.
AWANA for me has some good, great, and even sad & bad memories ~ all which I am thankful for. I too grew and learned in AWANA and that is not a bad thing!
Blessings to you Stan,
LouAnn
I, too, greatly benefited from AWANA. I grew up going to AWANA, and God used it to show me my need for a Savior. Many of the verses I know today, I know because I memorized them first in AWANA.
I would argue that, in part, AWANA is only as effective as it's leaders. If the leaders take time and prepare for the lessons each week, depth is there. If the leaders take the time to ask the kids about the verses they're memorizing, the depth is there. However, if it becomes like so much else that goes on in the church, it isn't given the thought and effort that is needed to truly be effective.
Beyond the memory verses and bible lessons, I learned how to be apart of a team; how to be a good teammate, how to be a gracious winner and a good loser, and ultimately, how to work together to achieve a common goal, all good life lessons. It's also good exercise!
AWANA is a tool, and I think that when used appropriately, it is far better than simply, "better than TV." It would be very easy to allow the materials to sit stagnant because they were done for the leaders...they don't have to prepare hard every week if they don't want to. There are always going to be people who try to cheat the system (remembering your verse from studying it while waiting your turn), no matter what method or tool is used.
You're right, Stan...it's not perfect, and you're right again, in that nothing this side of eternity will be. So thanks for standing up for a program that has changed many people's lives, including my own.
I am a huge fan of Awana! I grew up attending Awana, and it was super-important in my life. My family moved a lot, and Awana was one of the few things that stayed the same throughout my childhood. I absolutely loved Awana as a child--handbooks, games, everything! Awana was a program that told me that--even though I was a child--I was important to God, that God loved me and wanted to have a relationship with me, that Christ died on the cross so that I could be forgiven for my sins and reconciled to God. Largely because of Awana, I started reading the Bible every day on my own at home. The Scripture memorization at Awana and personal Bible reading at home enabled me to become grounded in God's truth and hear the Holy Spirit speak truth into my mind and heart through God's Word. When I reached middle school and high school, I started serving as a co-leader for the younger age groups, and--even though my church didn't always offer the Awana programs for teenagers--I kept working through the Awana materials on my own. While the focus of Awana in the younger ages is primarily on Scripture memorization (and definitions of a few key terms in the Bible verses), the 3rd to 6th grade materials explain basic Christian doctrines like the Trinity and the Resurrection by asking and answering questions like, "Who is God?", "Why Jesus have to die?", and "Why did God give us the Bible?" The focus of Awana materials shifts from memorization to understanding and application when a student reaches junior high school, and the Awana materials for high school are Bible studies (2 per year), with a single memory verse per week. By the time I started high school, I had read the whole Bible once. By the time I finished high school, I had read it several times. At this point, I haven't been involved in Awana for years, but I can still say many of the memory verses I learned. I have been able to build on the basic Christian doctrines and individual verses and passages I learned in Awana, putting them into their larger context in the Word of God. I am incredibly thankful for Awana and for the faithfulness of the leaders who invested in me and my fellow clubbers! I am thankful for the people who were willing to put up with our shenanigans for all those years and who taught us to love and serve Christ with all our hearts and minds, who made us feel like kids really are important to God! For those of you who posted saying you were AWANA leaders, it is largely because of people like you that I am still in the church, committed to following Christ and serving His Kingdom. Thank you! I wish that every kid that grew up going to church had a church family that took responsibility for investing in their spiritual development and teaching them why loving, knowing, and serving Christ is so incredibly important! I firmly believe that Awana is one program that does this well, and I thank God for Awana. :)
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