AWANA
(Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed) is a nondenominational ministry that assists churches in reaching
children and teenagers with the gospel of Jesus Christ and training them
to serve Him. Our message is simple: We're here to serve you with
a ministry that is all about fun with a purpose to win and grow kids
for Christ!
Our goal is to reach boys and girls, and their
families, with the gospel
of Christ and train them to serve Him. The acronym AWANA comes from
the first letters of Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed (2 Timothy 2:15).
AWANA
began in 1950 as a youth program at the North Side Gospel Center in
Chicago, Illinois. Lance Latham, the church pastor, worked with Art
Rorheim to develop a program that would appeal to young people, reach
them with the gospel of Christ and train them in the Lords work.
Other churches heard about the success of the Awana program and asked if
they could use it. By 1960, Awana had registered 900 clubs.
Today, there are more than 9,000 churches in
the United States that have Awana Clubs. There are clubs in all 50
states. AWANA can
also be found in over 2,700 churches in more than 110 other
countries, from Argentina to Zimbabwe, from Iceland to Australia.
