$1/Day Helps Reach the World

Yesterday I shared a little about Awana International and what God is doing around the world through them. I encouraged you to pray for them in their work. Today, I want to share a specific way that you can be a part of that mission.

Awana International relies on the donations of clubs and individuals to reach children overseas. One way that you can be a part of their work is through a program called Adopt-a-Club (AAC). If you were familiar with the AAC program a few years ago, then you will want to read this as the program has gone through some changes to more effectively reach more children with the Gospel. This is a great opportunity to reach more children than ever before with the Gospel!

I asked Awana International the following questions about the AAC program and Arlene Johnson (Sponsorship Development, Marketing and Donor Care with Awana) provided the answers. Here is the “interview”:

How does the adopt-a-club program work?

The Adopt-a-Club (AAC) program is a sponsorship opportunity for an individual, groups of individuals or a church in the US to sponsor a church in a foreign country to start an Awana club usually for an average of 60 kids.  The sponsorship amount of $30/month or $360/year will train leaders to start club and sustain it to continue even after the sponsorship year concludes.  The donor can them sponsor another church while the one they sponsored earlier continues to grow in # of clubbers.  As an Adopt – a Club sponsor, you will bring the gospel message to kids all over the world.  Your monthly gift will allow more boys and girls to hear the good news of Jesus Christ!

Are we sponsoring a specific club? If not where do the funds go, how are they used?

No – you do not sponsor a specific club but rather the start of clubs in certain churches within the country of your choice.  You will be assigned one of those churches for prayer and communication.  The funds are used to train leaders from many churches in a particular country and provide them all the materials to be able to start Awana clubs 30 days after training.  Your funds are also used to follow-up on all the leaders once the clubs have started and give them continuous training.

With the old Adopt-a-Club patches, you received a new patch (different color) for each year you participated. How are the new patches with the regions to be awarded/earned?

Every clubber that participates in the AAC program will receive a patch from the region of the world they supported.  If they support another country that is in the same region then they will continue to earn that same patch.

Why the name “Adopt-a-Club”?  (Basis for the question: I had someone who was adopted comment that an adoption is a lifelong commitment, where as people can “un-adopt” a club and stop supporting them, not truly adopting them – also, with the new strategy, one really is not adopting a specific club, but supporting a region)

The AAC brand has been around a long time – the previous program sponsored churches to help with awards, hand books and uniforms.  With this old AAC model – if you or other sponsors stopped giving – the church may not be able to function and would close their Awana club   especially if they were dependent on your funding.

With the new sponsorship program – you are adopting the club that you helped start. The end result with the new program is that once the club has started, it will only grow in number of clubbers and will not need any more sponsorship dollars to sustain the growth of its club.  Therefore, the donor is free to sponsor or adopt another club to start.  If you did this for 10 years – you would have adopted 10 clubs with conceivable 1,000 kids.

Please share anything else that clubs should know about the Adopt-a-Club program

The new AAC program multiplies the growth of clubs by training the leaders who are the ones reaching the clubbers and teaching them God’s Word. This is not a dependency model.  The # of children impacted by the new model of AAC is immeasurable unlike the old model where you would support a club with 20 kids and if you continued for 10 years – you could only support the same 20 kids.  There was a limit to what your dollars funded.  With the new model you would be supporting 10 different Awana clubs totaling 1000 kids in the same 10 year period! How exciting is that!

This is just a general overview of the AAC program. I encourage you look at the AAC Web Page as well as “like” their FaceBook page to keep up on what is happening internationally. You can make a faith promise to participate in the AAC program and support a region as well as download a pdf file to be used with the T&T Passport service booklet by going to the AAC Web Page.

9 Comments

  2. Betsy Sentamu

    Thanks, Commander Bill, for this post. Great information that really will make a huge impact for Christ. These sponsorships are so important to reaching more children internationally!

  3. Colin Robinson

    Wow! $1/Day to reach and disciple 60 or more new children every year with the gospel and the Word of God. Commander Bill, you have captured the passion of reaching the children of this world for Christ! You are helping fulfill the Great Commission around the world.

  4. Debi Wall

    Thanks Commander Bill for passing this information along to your readers!

    I have personally been an AAC supporter for years and also work with the Awana clubs at our church to get the clubbers involved in missions in this way. My desire is to get kids involved and have a heart for reaching kids around the world, just not in their own backyard. There is no greater calling than kingdom work! If you’re not involved I encourage you and your church to do so asap! You won’t regret it!

  5. Robin

    What a great post. $1 a day to help kids hear the Gospel and grow in their faith! Now, that’s a deal.

  6. Patricia Scott

    Our Awana Club took on sponsorship SEP 2009 of a Kenyan Club. I requested a club that we could actually correspond with because I feel kids NEED a close connection to really get serious about praying for actual clubbers so far away. We made a bright red cloth banner and used the beautiful colored letter size pictures in the packet of materials sent us from Headquarters. It’s 6 x 8 ft. on a pole we hang. A big black outline of Kenya is in the center. I set up a clay pot & African animals on a piece of purchased African print cloth, to collect their weekly giving. We pray during Opening Square for Pastor Charles & Ann Nderitu (the Kenyan Missionary) and our new Mavuni Club. I have put pictures also on PowerPoint & we show those up on the screen, too.

    God brought in almost $1000 that we sent. This year, we consequently, have taken on $20/mo support of Nderitu’s and our local Awana missionary with the rest going to purchase training materials, Bibles, game items, etc. for Mavuni! It does take you as the Commander to first pray to become burdened & determined for the lost without Christ around the world and enlist the help of perhaps others in your church to create a banner or other visible means of continually keeping the Mission of reaching the world for Christ, in the forefront of your club!

    PS – I will be happy to encourage and help you and your club with my ideas, should you want to become part of an Adopt-a-Club ministry, via Reply!

  7. Ellen Funk

    Thanks, Bill, for posting this interview. It is concise and lays out the program very well. I hadn’t realize the patches have been changed! Might I suggest that this blog be sent to Awana Clubs International? I’ve been to their website, but nowhere did I find a description of what the AAC program is. It would be good for them to have it as a FAQ section, or maybe under “About Us.”

    • Ellen, that is actually why I wrote this and did the “interview”, because I didn’t see an explanation of the “new” program either and I felt this would be a way to get the word out to help me understand as well as others.

      I’ll pass your suggestion along to Awana International for them to consider. Thanks for the kind words and for responding.

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