A.W.A.N.A. is a Christian club organization that trains & teaches children to follow Christ. A.W.A.N.A. stands for Approved Workers Are Not Ashamed. Our church offers A.W.A.N.A. clubs to kids ages 3 to 6th grade. In the club (for a fee) each child receives a book, vest and patches. The patches are earned by memorizing Bible verses and books of the Bible. There are three main groups that our church offers: Cubbies (ages 3-5), Sparks (grades K-2) and T & T (3rd-6th grade). T & T stands for Truth and Training. Each level gets a little more difficult, but also builds upon the previous learning somewhat.
Rebekah with her award in April. |
Caleb at Spring 2010 awards banquet |
We love A.W.A.N.A. because our kids have memorized sooo much Scripture in this program. They are able to memorize whole sections of John 3, Psalm 23 and more. They memorize the books of the Bible, which is sooo important! They have a theme pledge at the beginning of each meeting which states, "I pledge allegiance to the A.W.A.N.A. flag, which stands for the A.W.A.N.A. clubs, whose goal is to teach children the gospel of Christ, and train them to serve Him." They say this pledge at the weekly meeting, after the Pledge of Allegiance, and they follow it with the pledge to the Holy Bible.
We also love A.W.A.N.A. because our kids have met and enriched great friendships there. They get to be with a great bunch of kids, and learn to get along with them in a safe situation. They play games, usually active games where they learn good sportsmanship. They are rewarded for good sportsmanship, (as well as completing "sections" of verse memorization) by receiving A.W.A.N.A. bucks. Then twice a semester, the leaders and volunteer parents run an A.W.A.N.A. "store". They get to use their bucks to buy bags to hold their book/ Bible, bookmarks, and other small toys.
Mallory (last Spring) with her diploma- for parents too! |
We love it for one more selfish reason- it is a mini-date night for us! We still have our 2 year-old with us this year, so we aren't totally alone on that evening of the week. But we are nearly kid-free, so we spend our time shopping for birthdays & Christmas, or just running errands that we need to do. Sometimes we just go out for coffee!
Have you ever heard of A.W.A.N.A.? Have your children ever done A.W.A.N.A.? I'd love to hear any stories that you have about it!
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