Denver Baptist Church has recently launched Awana and is still accepting participants, based on its website. 

The event is reportedly open to children starting at three years of age up to 5th grade. 

Discipleship for Children

Awana is a non-profit ministry centered around Bible-based evangelism and discipleship for youth ages two to 18. The ministry reportedly aims to give children the opportunity to get to know Jesus, love Him, and serve in His kingdom. 

The ministry has been running for over six decades and has helped guide children to a future with the Lord. The ministry has also helped form the Christian leaders of tomorrow, making them disciples who are making disciples. 

Currently, Awana is in over 120 countries. According to their website, they reach more than 4 million kids each week. 

Humble Beginnings 

In 1941, members of the group founded the foundation for Awana. The children’s program at the North Side Gospel Center in Chicago served as the ministry’s starting point. 

North Side’s Senior Pastor Lance Latham collaborated with Art Rorheim, their church’s youth director. Together, they developed weekly clubs meant to appeal to kids at and outside of the church. 

Art created new and innovative ways for the gospel to reach the kids. 

Over time, other churches learned about the program’s success and wanted to know its availability. Thus, the act made them become pioneers in the children’s ministry.

 In response to inquiries about the program, Latham and Rorheim founded Awana. 

Ten years after it was founded, 900 churches had started Awana programs. By 1972, Awana had established its place in the international children’s ministry scene. 

Currently, they are continuing to expand by pursuing new locations and partnerships. They have even reached out to prisons, refugee camps, slums, and other hard-to-reach places. 

Awana Stories 

Among the participants of Awana, Angelique, a 13-year-old in Kigali, Rwanda, shared how she led her parents to God after being saved. 

Angelique said she came to know Christ as her Savior at an Awana club. 

However, before her encounter with Christ, Angelique stated that she and the other kids in her area lived a life of solitude. She expressed that she wasn’t saved, nor was she happy at that time in her life. 

Awana came, and the ministry has impacted their lives through the Word of God. 

She narrated that in her family, she has two brothers and a sister. Their household also cares for two other children.

Angelique shared that her family became interested in God after seeing her change. Now, they, too, are served. 

Aside from Angelique, Murugan, a 15-year-old boy from a Hindu village in Sri Lanka, also shared his story. 

Murugan is named after the Hindu indigenous god of war and was unexposed to any Christian influence. However, through a pastor in their region, he was invited to a local Awana club. 

There, he felt that something was different. He had been impacted by grace and had found hope in Christ. 

As he spent more time in Awana, he was called to share the Word with the other kids in his village. 

Murugan stated that God used him to start an Awana club. He went house-to-house to invite children and organized a place where he could bring them. 

Recently, more than 30 children have been coming to the Awana club he organized.

More from Crossmap: Mercy Hill Church to host fall retreat for university students