Awana is an international ministry with the goal of reaching boys and girls with the gospel of Christ and training them to serve Him.
More About Awana
For nearly 60 years, Awana has been a leader in children's ministry, helping churches and parents worldwide raise children and youth to know, love and serve Christ.
Based in the Chicago area, Awana is the only organization with fully integrated evangelism and discipleship programs for ages 2 to 18 that actively involve parents, church leaders and mentors. Each week, more than a million children and youth, 250,000 volunteers and 300-plus field staff take part in Awana in over 17,000 churches in the U.S. and internationally. (Learn about the prayer, vision, mission and values of Awana.)
Awana works with churches from nearly 100 different denominations. It began as a children’s program at the North Side Gospel Center in Chicago in 1941. Lance Latham, North Side’s senior pastor, collaborated with the church’s youth director, Art Rorheim, to develop weekly clubs that would appeal to churched and unchurched kids, lead them to trust Christ for salvation and grow them in enduring faith and service to God.
The founders of Awana derived the Awana name from the first letters of Approved workmen are not ashamed as taken from 2 Timothy 2:15 of the Bible.
Today, 12,000 U.S. churches run Awana with programs in all 50 states. Awana can also be found in over 5,100 churches in 109 other countries and six continents.
Missionaries and ministry teams assist in establishing Awana as a vital part of local church's outreach, discipleship, family ministry and volunteer training. Learn more about what we believe as a Bible-teaching ministry and the various support resources that are available.
(from the National Awana Organization website)