Article
by Valerie Bell
Have you noticed the changes taking place all around us? The changes within our churches and perhaps even in our homes? The changes you can see in the children in your life, your kids or grandkids, and their friends? We are living in a world very different from the one we grew up in.
Rampant secularism is shifting our culture and the world our children are experiencing. Google searches and social media platforms shape worldviews, while YouTube celebrities and Instagram influencers form the minds and morals of our children. The ground is fertile for confusion and compromise in a culture that diminishes the truth of the Bible, especially on issues such as identity, gender and sexuality. Perpetual busyness, technology addiction, the breakdown of family structures, and a global pandemic have fostered alarming levels of anxiety, depression and isolation. The way of Jesus is no longer socially accepted as right, true or good. It’s time we realize the simple, yet potentially scary truth:
Our children are in a faith crisis.
Consider all that is competing for a child’s time in our culture, the pressures they face, the intrusive influence of technology, and the increasingly post-Christian ideologies they encounter seemingly everywhere. According to well-known Christian research firm The Barna Group, a child’s worldview is largely shaped by age 13. This means if we wait until middle school or even high school to begin discipling our kids, it may already be too late. How can we help ensure our kids live according to the Word of God in the midst of constant change and cultural upheaval?
Awana develops children with Christian faith that lasts!
For more than 70 years, Awana has shaped and continues to shape kids who will thrive in their faith and follow Jesus, no matter the cultural context. Quite simply, Awana works! This past year, we conducted an impact study of recent Awana alumni that revealed:
- 97% of adults who participated in Awana as children are still active Christ-followers.
- Adults who participated in Awana in their youth are 46% more likely than the average churchgoing Christian to study and read the Bible on a weekly basis.
- More than 80% of Awana participants shared the Gospel with someone in the past year.
This is why pastors and church leaders throughout the world continue to choose Awana to bring biblical discipleship to the children and youth of their congregations. That is why today we can tell you Awana continues to innovate …
- Bringing child discipleship tools and solutions digitally into churches and direct to families
- Reaching children who would otherwise go unseen on the border of Mexico and in urban areas throughout the U.S. hardest hit by economic downfall and racial tension, introducing them to Jesus through local churches
- Convening leading Christian voices to take a stand for children and the future of the Church
- Serving 62,000 churches in 130 countries worldwide to reach almost 5,000,000 kids with the Gospel and raise them with lasting faith
Your Giving Expands Our Reach of the Gospel Around the World
When you give to to Awana, you fund kingdom-expanding initiatives like these that allow pastors, parents and church leaders to effectively lead children in your community and communities everywhere to know, love and serve Jesus all their lives. These children must be formed into resilient disciples, followers of Jesus who will bend but not break under the weight of culture. Our critical advancement of the Gospel is only possible because of you and other dedicated Christian donors. But there are millions of children still unreached.
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (Romans 10:14)
Our kids are in a faith crisis and need your help now. We need your best gift to reach even more kids with the Gospel and further child discipleship both in the U.S. and around the globe. Awana works, even in the face of aggressive secularism, and the time to give is now.
When you give to Awana, your gift is an investment in today’s children who will lead tomorrow’s Church. Now more than ever, kids need faith that lasts. Now more than ever, kids need you.
We couldn’t do this kingdom work without you,
Did you know your gift will make an immediate impact! Please visit awana.org/lastingfaith to partner together in order to raise the greatest generation of disciples this world has ever seen.
