I spent my blogging time yesterday responding to an e-mail from an old e-friend. Because of this, I decided to share this e-mail interaction on my blog, with permission of course.
I’ve been reading and appreciating your posts about AWANA, and I just wanted to ask you a few questions about how you’re doing some things. My husband and I are fairly new at our church, and find ourselves helping out with the church’s new AWANA program (I’m T & T director, my husband is a T & T leader out of the kindness of his heart toward me!) We are in about our ninth week, and we are floundering!
Most of our kids just are not memorizing verses. (Only one child has gotten out of the Start Zone booklet.) Some of them are children of parents in our church, some not. Most of them are losing their booklets or leaving them at home every week. We have sent home letters appealing to the parents to help out and we have talked to the kids about the importance of what we’re doing. A small amount of headway has been made with one or two of the children who have not been participating, but not enough!I’d like to ask you what you think about something our commander has suggested, which is that we simply use the handbook time to teach the kids the verses, have them recite them back and when they do so successfully, sign off on their booklets. This will get them through the Start Zone and into the handbook, which she believes will give them more of a sense of “ownership,” more of a vested interest in the program. My concern is that they aren’t really learning the verses; they can say them back while we are teaching them, but the next week (or day, maybe) they don’t remember them. I also don’t know whether her theory that it will be motivating to them to finally get into their books will prove correct with some of them. I also wonder, what does this say about our regard for God’s Word…does it become just the hoop they have to jump through to get to the good stuff?
I’m not above using these incentives to get them to memorize Scripture, that’s the whole point of awards and badges, but this is not memorizing. What do you think about that?
Also, we have a couple of kids who openly express boredom and disinterest with the whole process, and nothing we’ve tried so far has worked…have you come across that, and what did you do?
I appreciate your love for the children you work with and for AWANA. Any insight you have to offer will be most welcome!
I have written some positive posts about my AWANA experiences, but most of these posts were about the positive experiences I had. The reality is that I was often frustrated with inattentive kids and parents who just don’t care. Our family is moving to a new church at this time, and I’m a bit relieved that AWANA is not offered at this church.
Of the three age groups, I appreciated the T&T more than the others, because this program allows for more real interaction with the kids. The younger programs are geared for a cram and repeat format, but the T&T calls for the kids to seek out answers in the Bible and discuss these with the leaders. There is some memorizing that is called for, but it is rewarded with discussion.
I’m a bit surprised that only one child is out of the start zone. Part of the reason our T&T program did better than the others is that the leaders made it clear that the kids were expected to do well and that there was a little bit of competition among the kids. It also helped that we had a boys group and a girls group. It didn’t hurt that the church pastor was one of the leaders in that group as well. He has a way of keeping things on track without being a jerk about it.
Kids leaving their books at home is simply unacceptable. My first response is to send a letter home asking parents to stay until the kids check in. Suggest that they come in uniform with a Bible and their book. We had an all-night point system where kids could get points for each of these three things. But a kid who isn’t progressing and doesn’t even bring his start zone needs to return home with their parents. AWANA is not intended to be cheap babysitting.
Speaking of AWANA babysitting, I got this term when I overheard a lady in the church who had four kids in the program. She said that this was an hour and a half of sanity in her life, using the term babysitting. From that night on, I have held to the opinion that any church family who has children in a program like AWANA must be involved with the program. She didn’t think the evening was important and neither did her kids. Her oldest son was among the worst behaved kids in the entire class, and nothing was ever done about it.
AWANA’s goal is to reach boys and girls with the gospel of Christ and to train them to serve them. This is not to be done without the participation of the only institution ordained by God to do this. As you know, that is the family. Any family that drops off their kids and is unwilling to be a part of their duty before God should be under church discipline. I mean that.
If a family is not part of the church, that is different, because those are the boys and girls that AWANA is intended to reach. If anything, the church kids are supposed to be there to provide an example to the other children, whether they realize it or not. If the church parents don’t care about the program, their kids won’t care about the program. If the church kids don’t care about the program, the visitors won’t care about the message. If the visitors see no reason to pay attention, the club will not make any headway toward the overarching goal.
I say to start with the church families and gently let them know that AWANA is a wonderful resource to help THEM disciple their children. Get them on board and get them involved. This could very well right the ship.
I disagree with dumbing down the T&T to a Sparks level of memorize-repeat. If you lower the value of the program, the kids will have no reason to raise that value. Including parents (even if their kids aren’t in the same classes that they are helping) will increase the value and improve the ratio of kids to leaders. More one on one time will get the kids through the Start Zone and will make it easier to maintain control of a classroom.
Have you ever read “Putting Amazing Back Into Grace” by Michael Horton? In there he has a chapter called “Jumping Through Hoops is for Circus Animals.” That is my general opinion of the AWANA, and general Sunday School, curriculum. Most programs are designed around accomplishments and rewards. I know that it is difficult to teach kids without this setup, but the real accomplishment we need to present to the kids is the accomplishment made on our behalf. I’m not sure how to translate that into an AWANA club, however.
Kids acting bored is a common occurrence as well. They come to the club looking for entertainment. The club often uses entertainment, trying to tuck the Bible in there as well where they can. I see this also as a devaluation of the gospel. I say to preach a big god in council time. You can’t teach him bigger than He is, so don’t hold back! While you’re at it, work some of those start zone verses into that time. It may help the kids remember the verses and put things together at least enough to think there’s something exciting to this. If it’s a church kid, I’m pretty sure their parents don’t help in the club. If it’s not a church kid, the parents are expecting AWANA to teach them about morality. Both of these are, in a sense, an assault on the family.
And that’s where my frustration with AWANA comes from. AWANA was never intended to take parents out of the picture, but too many parents take themselves out of the picture because they are too busy or too tired to care enough about their children to be involved. They don’t work with the kids during television commercials to learn a verse or two and they don’t stick around while their kids are at the club.
My solution is that church parents must be involved in the club. I also suggest offering a time for the unchurched parents in another room. This is a time where they can discuss different matters with a couple in the church who is around their age. Our church did that last year and two of the families who stayed for this time became regular attenders. I believe they had a Bible study, going through a book in the New Testament. I would lean toward 1 Peter, but others would be great as well.
I have no doubt that expecting church families to be involved will ruffle some feathers. As a new family to the church, you probably are not the right person to present this idea. Maybe a gentle way to get this started is to brainstorm a few ways that parents in the church can get involved and then call a meeting with all of them, asking for ideas and volunteers. Have the elders approach a couple to lead a Bible study with parents.
Saving the best for last, pray for the kids. You have had nine weeks to know their names and at least one thing about their home lives. Pray for their salvation! Pray that God would present Himself to each of them as infinitely valuable. Pray that they would learn something about the nature of God and that they would bring this up with their parents. The public goal is to reach boys and girls, but I think the “secondary” goal needs to include reaching out to the families.
Sorry for “talking” your ear off on this. The frustration I experienced with AWANA is a quiet hobby horse of mine. It was a great program a generation ago, but I believe it needs to be evaluated in light of cultural changes. What if the “Children Desiring God” curriculum replaced the “remember long enough to recite” program that it currently is?
Yours because His,
Doug McHone
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[...] I came across this post – AWANA Frustrations – that I thought was worth sharing.Hope you enjoy [...]
Doug,
Your comment that parents said they were too busy to follow up jives with so much of what I continue to see in the American Church. Our lives are too dedicated to things that don’t last. We spend far too much daily time at work or commuting, and it’s taking a toll on our spiritual lives.
I don’t believe any of this will get better until we start addressing the underlying problem. Sadly, I can’t think of a single major Christian leader who is speaking on the increasing amount of time we spend doing our jobs and how that impinges on our walks with Christ.
I have been involved with Awana for about 18 years most as a commander/director. I have run T&T,JV(junior high) and assisted with Sparks and Cubbies.
Letters will not usually work, want you want is to get the kids motivated to do this on their own. One way to do this do a pop book inspection, everyone who has their book gets an award (candy, dollar store item, check out items on Awana.org also). Do this several weeks in a row. Lay off for awhile and then do another pop inspection.
Another thing many clubs do is run an AWANA store. This can have items from the Awana catalog, dollar store items etc.
Each week the kids earn shares based on bringing: Bibles, Awana books, friends etc which they spend at the store. I usually run a store every few months.
Give a special award each night to the kid who does the most sections. You could also do the most improved from the previous week.
Do a special outing or have a special treat for kids who have passed at least 2 sections for 4-6 weeks.
Go over the start zone verses as a club until most of the club has it down – wait a few weeks then review that verse again. The key to memorization is repetition.
Have a special award for anyone that comes to club with a certain number of sections ready and can say them to you without any helps.
Some clubs also have kids sit out games if they do not have a section. You can have them work with a leader until they get a section.
Is there a leadership conference in your area? You can get many helpful ideas from other leaders and directors.. Check out who your Awana missionary is at Awana.org, they are the one’s who sponser this event.
Through the word, Through faith alone, in Christ alone, For the Glory of God alone.
Jim
[...] [ more - ] CoffeeSwirls – – Tuesday, Oct 23, 2007 – Feed – Focus Monday, Oct 15, 2007 AWANA Frustrations by Doug McHone in Awana I spent my blogging time yesterday responding to an e-mail from an old [...]
Doug, great observations. You might be interested to know that Awana has many of the same frustrations (a lot of the things that churches do with Awana was never intended by us)To help address some of these issues, Awana has developed an initiative called Homebase, which is designed to help get parents involved in what their kids are doing/learning at church and to take seriously their role as the primary spiritual caregivers of their kids. You can check it out at awana.org/homebase. Disclosure: I work for Awana.
I’ll take a look at it tonight. From what little I have seen, it looks to be a very positive development!
It grieved me to hear the frustrations listed above. My husband and I have been involved with Awana since 1994. My husband holding commander in the clubs we have been in and I pretty much have done everything at one time or another.
Awana is an amazing ministry … frustrations arise when the leadership is not “called” to be there. When we step into a place of service without God’s calling we are setting ourselves up for failure. So I disagree with telling people they have to serve in any position. I believe your leaders need to examine their reasons for being there. Ask God to lift up the leadership He would like and watch for those people to come your way. Those who are there and don’t want to be should be given an opportunity to step down. I think we are too quick to pull people in because we are in a recruiting panic.
Your kids are going to respond to those in authority over them in like manner. If your leadership is not wanting to be there, the kids won’t. If you have a slow and boring game time, your kids will be undisciplined and unruly. Games is your drawing card … an unexciting game time will yield and unexciting club. If your leaders visit with each other more than they interact with the kids, your kids will not care what your leaders want them to do. If your leaders are not excited or interested in what the kids are doing in their handbooks, neither will the kids.
Does the club have exciting events, contests and recognition available? Do you give too many rewards for everything under the sun? Because then the rewards are no longer valuable because they get them for everything. Some clubs offer rewards for so many things that it isn’t necessary for kids to do sections … so sections are unnecessary for them.
The program is what is flawed it is our own mindset and how we run Awana that shoots us in the foot.
I daresay if we would give as much preparation to our clubs as we do for our kids extracurricular activities we would have a youth revival like no other.
And even if the verses they say are not sticking with them like we think they should, at least they are thinking of them for that one night. God’s Word will never return void. Awana’s material is set up so that clubbers will see those verses again. The second time they see and say it will cause it to be pressed a little deeper into their hearts. Please do not underestimate the power of even a few minutes in God’s Word.
So if there is an Awana Club that is ineffective it is the leadership that took it there.
Amen and Amen!
“So if there is an AWANA Club that is inefective it is the leadership that took it there”.
I will also add: The Church took it there
The Pastor allowed it to go there
The Commander is not doing his/her job.
When are we, as leaders, going to hold up to our end of the responsibility?
When are we going to stop passing the blame?
When are we going to step up and say to the church leaders and AWANA leaders: *make sure your children are prepared for AWANA
(this is your job -not ours!)
*make sure your children know that rules also
apply to them.
*make sure your children respect other leaders.
*make sure your children have uniform, handbook &
dues.
* make sure your children wear the right attitude.
* make sure your pre-teen /teen realizes they are
the example.
Not trying to be overly argumentative, but wouldn’t you say that parents are called to raise their children in the fear of the Lord? And if so, is the church doing them a disservice by making it easier to excuse themselves from this calling?
Awana has the potential to be a valuable tool in the growth of a child, but the potential is lost when it becomes the primary source of instruction, supplanting the parental role that is found throughout scripture.
Why does the church allow this? The reasons are many, but I would begin by pointing out that this is how the world raises children. I can only assume that the Character Counts program is run in your local schools. Why is it necessary for character to be taught in the school system? Because it is not taught at home. The rights and duties of parents are taken from them by the state to such a degree that only the state can instruct the children. Why should the church follow a model laid out for us by anyone but God?
The world tries to separate the family. The church needs to be better than that.
Not at all, I see this as a discussion, not an argument.
We are called to raise our children up in the Lord. I must say that sadly there are parents who probably never should have had children. That’s the only reason I believe that public school has a place in our society today. I also believe that the education should also be handled at home.
But because someone is a parent does that make them the right person to disciple our children, just because their child is in the group? I would agree that every parent does have a responsibility to be sure that their child is spending time in God’s Word daily, whether Awana or any other material. I also know that this is not a perfect world, as you stated in other posts, along with our churches. So you can’t exclude the child who needs to participate because the parent isn’t doing their job. That would be a tragic mistake, in my opinion. I’m always ready to reach them, whether the parent wants to or not.
I’m afraid the church needs to be a lot of things it isn’t. Wish I had the answer to that one too.
God Bless
I know that most of the information here was left some time ago, but if I found it then others might also, so, here goes.
I was sad to hear that anyone would come away with not liking AWANA, this is what I took from the original blog. My family has been blessed by the program so many times.
We work in AWANA. My husband is commander and I help him.
To what I want to say.
Thought we have clubbers that are church kids, does not mean that their parents are saved! The best part about AWANA is that through the program you can help minister to these parents.
Next, we as leaders need to keep up with the ways of the world and know that our job is making sure we meet these families are where they are.
AWANA is just the catalyst to which ministry starts.
My part is to help the kids SEE that Jesus helps me and I can count on Him. Thought we as sinners spend more and more time doing things that do not reflect the mind of Christ, and as each generation comes up they are more interested in entertainment and self gratification. This is a true statement: Time spent with some one speaks mounds. I find that If you sit down with the same child, each week, you then help them to know they can count on Christ, and they want to know more about Him. It just take time…
Make sure you are not rushing the child through their book, find ways to reward them, and keep up with the fun of life. Change things if it is not working, AWANA gives you the resources to minister. You still need to show that YOU love the lost and the Word. All other stuff is just an instrument by which we capture a second of their time.
The devil uses the same game plan, if we know that, then we are reaching those who could be making the wrong choice, and saving their life.
Your Sister in Him,
Nancy
I too just came across this website and felt compelled to reply to some of the comments.
I have been involved with AWANA for 9 years I was a listener, leader, director and most importantly a parent. Both of my children have gone through the program and I feel that there are way too many parents that just drop off their child and have no clue of what goes on at club. They are in “it ” for the free daycare and it is really frustrating to the leaders because if the parents do not care why should the child. There have been instances when a child has misbehaved and we were unable to locate the parents. I find that sad. The thing that gets me is these parents claim to be great parents who make sure their child is safe and they claim to know all the friends of their child but have no clue who the adults are that are working with their child. Both my husband and I work with the program so it is just outrageous when people tell us they did not have time to work with their child. I guess maybe I expect too much from my children but you know when I get to heaven I do not want to have to tell God that I was too busy to help my child come to know him and serve him, that it just did not fit into my schedule. Well thanks for letting me vent.
Always his child
Dee
My biggest sorrow with Awana is not what the program offers, but that parents have no feeling of responsibility for their children’s spiritual growth. Probably they many don’t have any thing to give their children spiritually. We have already basically lost a whole generation for the Lord, so how can we expect them to see their part in leading these children. If you will look more deeply into the resources Awana offers you will see that they are as acutely aware of this problem as anyone. Several years ago I attended their vision conference. They have had shepherding parents, etc. in the annual leader conference for several years, but you have to have your church leadership whole heartily behind discipleship for parents and even then you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Have you read Raising a Modern Day Joseph by Larry Fowler? Or how about God’s Grand Vision for the Home. They have even come out with a new book for parents to use for themselves and to go along with the new Sparks First Book called Beginnings: Studies in Genesis – Joshua. Especially in families with both parents working they do not feel that they have time to read the book, let alone do a study with their child. There is time and energy to go to all the sports events, as well as all the practices. We want well rounded children, but the spiritual side is at the bottom of the list. This is only a small part of the resources they are making available for interacting with the parents, if only we could get their attention. I just gave a somewhat tearful plea for my burden to reach the parents. All I can say is that if we reach one child each year, that’s more than would be reached otherwise.
Always persisting for Him,
Cleo
Whether we are called to ministry or not, we are human and will become frustrated at some point. There is no perfect family, church, or program. I attended Awana as a child so I was excited to get it started in our area. I’m thankful that I’m not the only one that gets frustrated. It lets me know that the program is still ok and maybe we need to take a different approach. One of the things I really love about Awana is that it has been around for generations and does evolve. And just like with this entry, you will get all sorts of feedback.
I just wanted to say what out church does.
First of all, we hold a prayer meeting during AWANA.
Secondly, in Sparks we have a special points system…the quiet seat… so the quietest person during devotions (and well-behaved in general) gets a sticker to put by their name. At the end of each quarter, the top couple names get like 5 extra shares. Of course, you could do this in T&T… if you come in completely prepared to say a verse (…and/or with your Bible…) you get extra points which later translates into more shares or “monopoly money” to spend at the “store”.
When I was in T&T, each night the leader would encourage us to take our books home… whoever said the most sections got the “clubber of the week” award…just a pretty piece of paper signed by the leader!(and maybe a share? I don’t remember.) Competition is key! Also during the last 1/2 or 1/4 of the AWANA yr. we were constantly encouraged to earn the highest-point award for saying verses and to finish our book to ultimately get our names on the Timothy Plaque.
I was really the only church kid that came every week and
I was 2 yrs behind in T&T because I started late due to lack of transportation. Fortunately, my oldest brother got a car and started my siblings became leaders who drove me (since my parents are busy and getting a ride was too difficult). I was able to win Timothy Award anyway and now I am desperately trying to get the first citation Award my church has ever gotten. I was lucky to have a sister who went over the book with me and parents who took me to church and encouraged me every day. It was easy enough for me, but I remember being the only kid in book 3 or 4 at any given time… What I am getting at is that most of the kids needed the leaders to teach them the verses, because even with the incentives, their lives had so little Godly influence and any form of Christian discipline that they would walk out the door and forget all about it…mostly they did not want to “waste” any extra time in “real life” to earn shares, but nonetheless they would learn something on Wednesday, which is better than nothing. Some kids just are not going to remember or care, if you start teaching them how to do a section and rewarding them with shares and a LOT of encouragement, maybe eventually they will start.
As for public school, I’m home-schooled so YAY!! I don’t have to worry about that! Thank the Lord. I will home school my children too, one day!
I am a T&T Leader of the 3rd and 4th grade girls and one thing I use is white boards. The girls(or a leader can) write the verse on the white board then say the verse once or twice to themselves. They then erase 1 word. Now they repeat this verse again once or twice. They continue eraseing words one at a time and reading the verse once or twice after each word is erased until they finally have erased the whole thing. Hopefully by reciteing it several times they have learned it. If not then they write it again and do the same thing again. You could also have them cover up the words with pieces of paper or small marbles instead of erasing them. This has worked well. We try to have contests between classes. Say for instance between boys and girls classes. I agree that you will always have those children who will come and need help learning verses. Make if exciteing and fun and they will come. We plan on letting the kids put those round colored stickers on us (like on our faces, or arms, etc.) for each verse they have learned. We are also working through the books with the girls this year, so we plan on decorating them with the stickers for each verse we learn.