Today we have a guest blogger, Doyle Eldridge, the children’s pastor of Heartland Church in Winter Haven, Florida. Doyle is in his 30th year of Awana leadership and has launched five Awana clubs in churches of all sizes—one club even in a funeral home! This fall, a club Doyle began with 25 kids 9 years ago kicked off with almost 300 children attending. Let’s listen in as he shares tips from his experience.
When I was a young man and new pastor, I asked a mentor of mine, “How can we build a strong church?” He replied, “That would be easy—grow a strong children’s ministry.” My jaw dropped to the ground.
So, we started looking for ways to build a strong children’s ministry, and we all kept coming back to the same thing: Awana is the best children’s ministry out there. But once you’ve decided on Awana, how do you build a strong program? What if you’re at square one—how do you get started?
I’m now in my 30th year of Awana, and I’m honoured to share my experience. This is the method. This is what we do.
Cast the Vision
The most important thing: cast vision months before you launch your program. Four to six months ahead of time, begin locating and developing a core leadership team. Start small and personal, six to eight people. Look for strong people, who love children, and start talking to them; cast the vision of what Awana can be. Take them out to lunch.
Develop Your Leadership Team
Once you’ve identified your key leaders (six to eight depending on the size of the church and community), begin to develop them. Let the fire catch inside them; once that fire is kindled and they’re on board and excited about everything that’s going on, it’s time to begin promotion.
Promote the Club
What’s the best way to promote Awana? Every way you can! Social media, posters, pulpit—whatever you have available to you. Face to face is always the best way to get people on board. If they see the fire and excitement inside of you, it’s going to catch on. It only takes a spark to get a fire going, right?
Establish Excellent Directors
An Awana missionary once asked me, “Do you know who the most pivotal person in your Awana ministry is? Your game director!” And he’s right! Kids don’t come to memorize the Scriptures; they come for the fun, the games. Make sure you have directors in place who can connect with kids and have some fun. Even when you’re up and running, never stop recruiting strong leaders.
Train Your Leaders
We hold a full leadership training at the beginning of every year, and any new leaders coming aboard we train also. Train, train, train! Get everyone on board. Get everybody excited about Awana. If you do that, if you build the fire underneath your leadership team, it will grow.
What about you? What are your sure-fire tips for building a strong club? We’d love to hear from you!
