Many Christians are familiar with Awana children’s ministry. My kids attended 20 years ago. A little singing, a story or devotional message, some games and lots of fun for little ones.

But things have changed. Awana, which started popping up in churches in the 1950s, has evolved to reach an international mission ground. They are sophisticated and focused on evangelism but also discipleship, making kids confident in their faith to equip them to face a non-believing world.

Matt and Katie Markins (no relation) are sold on this organization so fully that they recently packed up and moved their family to Chicago to work on staff. Matt is the Executive Director of Ministry Resources and the Vice President of Marketing and Strategy. He joined me to share about the changes and the vast impact Awana is making.

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Awana is Changing Lives

by Matt Markins

Like a lot of Christ following parents, I had heard of the Awana ministry before, but in 2011, the way I viewed Awana totally changed.  I was shocked by what I found out, and it totally changed our lives.

My wife, Katie, and I had been attending the same church in Nashville for almost 20 years.  Our church had spent some time looking for a proven mid-week children’s ministry that could help families grow closer to Christ while reaching out into the community.  Our pastor, well-known speaker and teacher Robert J. Morgan, highly recommended Awana as a trusted ministry everywhere he travels.  Long-story-short, our church started an Awana ministry and my family would never be the same again.

My sons first invited one friend.  Then two.  Then three.  Next thing you know we began driving two vehicles to church just to get all of the children to Wednesday night church.  Not only were my sons memorizing scripture and building a foundation of faith as disciples, a few of their friends came to know Christ.  It was truly amazing gospel fruit!

One day while on the Awana website, I came across a list of countries where Awana serves.  At the time it was just over 100. I was blown away! Could this be true? Could this same ministry that was having such an impact in my family be growing and thriving in over 100 countries, reaching over 2 million kids each week? I thought to myself “The Body of Christ does not know this story . . . the story of what God is doing to reach kids with the gospel through Awana. This story has to be told to mobilize more parents, leaders and churches into action!” Over the course of a year, God called our family to Awana to serve in full-time-ministry.  We are so thankful for the opportunity to serve with Awana.

By God’s grace, Awana recently released a 30 minute documentary sharing the story of what God is doing to reach kids and families with the gospel all around the world.  Although there are so many more stories to be told, we are excited to begin sharing what God is up to.  To check out the film, go to http://www.awana.org/more