Embrace Awana Ministry

Casting a vision for the Awana ministry began last week. Our vision for this year was "Embrace". Our goal is to have a 3 to 1 ratio for preschool to early elementary and a 4 to 1 ratio for the 4th and 5th grade. The purpose of this goal is for every child to be individually discipled and loved by a leader. We want kids to love coming to Awana because their buddy (their leader) is excited to see them and would really miss them if they didn't come. This is the key for kids to achieve in Awana and this is the key for recruiting. People becoming attached to kids and loving to work with kids because they have built a relationship.

I learned this when I worked with the Whiz Kids ministry in Oklahoma City. We tutored children in one of the lowest income elementary schools in the city. Half of the children tutored were in homes where the parents did not speak english and all the children had no idea what it was like to excel in school. When I began working in this ministry we had 12 faithful tutors and in one year we increased to 40. This week I was told that their is now over 100 volunteers tutoring children one on one. How did this happen? It happened because people found out that they could tutor one child who had no hope of excelling in school and they knew that they could make a difference. Once people began to share about the relationships they were building with these children and how it was inspiring them, the volunteers began to pour in. The word has now spread to a second church that joined and pushed the numbers so large that they are now transporting kids in a bus to a larger church.

This is what will make the Awana ministry do the same. One leaders making a difference with a child they have adopted as their disciple. This is the first year this vision and this high of a goal has been cast, and with prayer and good strategies in communication that goal will be achieved. The exciting part is going to be hearing the leaders share about how special this has been in their own life and seeing how excited they are at the awards ceremony at the end of the year.