Awana conference season is underway. Many of you have already attended a local ministry conference, and many of you are planning to. For myself, I’m headed out this weekend to Virginia. And I’m pumped.
The theme of this year’s Awana conference is “One Mission; Many Methods.”
We have our methods – the what of doing ministry.
But we also have our mission – the why we do ministry.
And the why is always deeper than the what.
So what does that have to do with Awana?
Plenty, I think.
The surface of the church is changing. Things aren’t the way they were – the way we might remember them. So the way we do ministry has to change. But unless we ground ourselves deeper in our why – not our what – we’ll lose ourselves in the whirlwind – being profoundly busy, and profoundly ineffectual.
The attack on biblical marriage.
The resurrection of racial tensions.
The sex trafficking of children in our own neighborhoods.
These are not okay.
This is not what God envisions for His people.
These are hard issues that (if I’m honest) I wish we didn’t have to deal with.
But these are opportunities for the church to stand up and be the church in new ways. Ways that will likely stretch our comfort zone, and recover a kind of faith that is marked by the new realities of our changing culture. And while there’s plenty to be somber about, there’s plenty to be excited about too.
The question isn’t: “How did we get here?”
The question is: “What does God want us to do now that we are here?”
As you head into this ministry year, I’d like to share a quick challenge:
Deepen your why.
Deepen your reason for doing Awana – and share it with somebody. God is using Awana in ways we’ve never thought: From local pastors in Bangladesh working with children in leper colonies, to churches serving children in brothels in Indonesia. From leaders in small churches in Nebraska, to grandparents in New York.
You are a part of something huge.
And I believe that God has you in Awana this year, not just so you can sign off on sections, lead game time, or teach a large group lesson – but also because He wants you to deepen your why.
Welcome to Awana – here’s to a great year!
