SOME AWANA HISTORY:
Based in the Chicago area, Awana is the only organization with fully integrated evangelism and discipleship programs for ages 2 (age 3 at ABF) to 18 that actively involve parents, church leaders and mentors. Each week, more than 2 million children and youth, 400,000 volunteers and 127 field staff take part in Awana Clubs in more than 27,000 churches around the world. AWANA is an acronym that means Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed. You may write Awana as a word (Awana) or as an acroynm (AWANA).
Awana works with churches from 100 different denominations. It began as a children's program at the North Side Gospel Center in Chicago in 1941. Lance Latham, North Side's senior pastor, collaborated with the church's youth director, Art Rorheim, to develop weekly clubs that would appeal to churched and non-churched kids, lead them to trust Christ for salvation and grow them in enduring faith and service to God. Other churches learned about the success of the program and inquired about its availability. In 1950, Latham and Rorheim founded Awana as a parachurch organization.
USA
Today, more than 11,500 churches run Awana Clubs with programs in all 50 states.
100 Other Countries
Awana can also be found in more than 16,000 churches, schools and orphanages in 100 other countries.
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