This Wednesday I signed Hayden up for AWANA. I'm pretty excited about it - especially since it almost didn't happen! The first church we looked at that offered AWANA on Wednesday nights relied heavily on parent volunteers. Which is wonderful, besides the fact that my ministry commitments are very heavy right now. Between our own church's children's ministry and The Lord's Table, I'm maxed out. Adding another commitment was not something I could do.
There are a lot of great AWANA programs in town, but most of them are offered on Sundays. For a three year old, it seems like that was asking too much. Spending half the day at church, then coming home for a lunch/nap/dinner, and then getting shuttled back to AWANA sounds ridiculous. I also like the idea of spreading out his learning throughout the week. I want to be sure to teach him that God is NOT just for Sundays!
His first day is next Wednesday! We've already got verses to work on memorizing for the week so he can earn his vest and book. (They wear a cute little vest to their meetings). The 3/4 year old class is called Cubbies and the church it's held at seems great. They have a whole floor that is decorated with cool kid themes and the classroom looks really fun too. I think Hayden will really enjoy it.
Each week is a different "theme" (bring a friend, wear favorite sports team shirt, etc) and I can't wait to see how Hayden likes it. I'm so glad he seems to be improving with his separation issues, or this would be really hard.
Anyone had experiences with AWANA (as a kid or your own kids)?
2 comments:
Aaron and I both did AWANA as kids, and I can't say enough good things about it. Those scriptures I learned as a kid are the ones that are still right there in my head when I need them. Nothing I've memorized as an adult has ever stuck with me that well.
We're not sure if Evan will officially participate in a Cubbies program or if we'll just find a way to get the book and do it from home (due to current ministry commitments + younger kid(s)), but by the time he's ready for the K/1/2 program (Sparks) we'd like to be actually involved with a club. Whatever the case, he'll at LEAST be going through the book doing the memory work with me.
you know they have a wonder pets episode about separation anxiety??...I think it is about blowfish, haha
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