Awana is an international evangelical Christian nonprofit organization in child and youth discipleship. The headquarters are in St. Charles, Illinois , United States .
6-545: In 1941, the children's program at the North Side Gospel Center in Chicago laid the foundation for the principles of Awana. Lance Latham, North Side's senior pastor, collaborated with the church's youth director, Art Rorheim, to develop weekly clubs that they believed would appeal to all children. Other churches became interested in the program and inquired about its availability. In 1950, Latham and Rorheim founded Awana as
12-513: A parachurch organization . Rorheim served as president emeritus until his death on January 5, 2018. The name is derived as an acronym of "Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed", taken from 2 Timothy 2:15. As of 2019, Awana claims to work with over 61,000 churches in 122 countries. Awana offers resources and Bible -based training programs for children ages 2 to 18 in churches. Children are encouraged, but not required, to memorize Bible verses for credit or to redeem for small prizes. Each Awana program
18-587: A byproduct of the fundamentalist–modernist controversy . As modernist views penetrated mainline churches, those with more fundamentalist views who elected to stay reached across denominational boundaries for opportunities for Christian fellowship and outreach. While most parachurch organizations involved in social work operated in a collaborative mode, those engaged in evangelistic and discipleship ministries, particularly on college campuses, have at times been in fierce competition. Seeking to resolve such issues, Campus Crusade for Christ, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship,
24-724: A club for every age group. Parachurch organization Parachurch organizations are Christian faith-based organizations that work outside and across denominations to engage in social welfare and evangelism . Parachurch organizations seek to come alongside the church and specialize in things that individual churches may not be able to specialize in by themselves. They often cross denominational and national boundaries providing specialized services and training. These bodies can be businesses , non-profit corporations, or private associations . Most parachurch organizations, at least those normally called parachurch , are Protestant or Evangelical . Some of these organizations cater to
30-436: A defined spectrum among evangelical beliefs, but most are self-consciously interdenominational and many are ecumenical . In Protestant and Catholic theology parachurch organizations are termed sodality , as distinct from modality , which is the structure and organization of the local or universal church. Parachurch organizations perform a number of roles, including: Evangelical parachurch organizations proliferated as
36-432: Is arranged into different groups that are separated by the ages and grades of the children attending. These groups include Puggles (ages 2 to 3), Cubbies ( preschoolers , ages 4 to 5), Sparks ( Kindergarten to 2nd Grade), Truth and Training, or T&T (Grades 3 to 6), Trek ( Middle School ), and Journey ( High School ). Although Awana offers programs for ages 2 to 18, churches that run an Awana program are not required to run
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