AWANA HELPS CHURCHES, CHILDREN

Four years ago Wayne Moore and Bill Parker saw an aging congregation and thought Red Star Baptist Church wasn't attracting younger families. They knew that if it didn't get more young families in it, the church would die a slow death.

So they decided to try AWANA, a program that is designed to equip churches for evangelization and to disciple children and youth through a weekly Bible study. The name is an acronym for Approved Workers Are Not Ashamed and comes from a Scripture reference.

The program has been a success for Red Star, which has seen about a 50 percent growth since 1996. About 65 children attend the club meetings each week.

"When you ask these little kids about the Lord, they can recite verses.," Moore said.

The real benefit is that "whole families have come to Christ and to the church because of AWANA," he said. "It's a good witnessing tool."

AWANA International turns 50 this year, and much of its growth is attributed to word of mouth from people who have been involved in the program. It is a nonprofit program that began near Chicago and has grown to more than 10,000 clubs in 100 countries.

AWANA offers clubs for children ages 3 through high school but most local programs end at sixth grade. Four Cape Girardeau churches and one in Patton, Mo., offer the program, and more than 500 children are involved.

Mark Schoonover, an AWANA missionary, oversees many of the training programs for the area churches in Missouri and Illinois. In four years, he's seen the number of area programs nearly double.

The program at Lynwood Baptist Church set a record attendance with 165 children participating last week. Previously, 158 children had participated in the program.

Like many area churches, Lynwood's program draws children from Jackson, Mo., Chaffee, Mo., Perryville, Mo., Sikeston, Mo., and Thebes, Ill.

Mark Carver, commander at Lynwood, said AWANA is more than racing through a manual to learn verses. It's a way to help the children understand the verses so they can find meaning in their lives.

The goal, he said, "is to reach our kids with scripture and the gospel and teach them to live their lives the way God intended them to."

At Cape Bible Chapel, which has the area's oldest AWANA program, Commander Bjorn Olesen is happy to see other churches start the program.

Olesen is proud of the AWANA program, saying that "if a child stays in the program for six grades, he will learn hundreds of Bible verses."

He said that things people "latch onto as youngsters" stay with them a long time. There is also a Junior Varsity program for junior high school students and a Varsity program for senior high school students.

Generally, the program lasts two hours, with three 40-minute sessions. There's a handbook section where the participants learn Bible verses and work on lessons. There's an activity period where they participate in AWANA games, and there's a council time for music and awards.