On February 15th, I held the first Annual International Day of Prayer for Awana. Little did I know that in one month, the world as we knew it would change forever as local governments issued stay at home orders and limited the size of gatherings. In this post, I am looking back at my personal response regarding ministry and trying to encourage you to evaluate your response as well. I am in no way saying that my response was the best, or worst, way to respond, this is simply my personal reflection on my response. For this post, I will simply address Awana during this time, and not other aspects of my ministry.
I saw the ending of public meetings coming as I watched events around the world unfold. I even inquired of my FT (non-church) employer if they had a plan based on information known at the time (before things started closing down). The order came to limit gatherings of 250 or less. Since we are in a small church (less than 100), this did not impact us; however, schools had been closed for a 2-week period (at that time). During a meeting that Sunday afternoon, I encouraged leadership to continue Awana as children would be seeking activities and fellowship with schools being closed. Things escalated quickly and by that Tuesday more restrictions were being put into place and things were shut down until the end of March. Even before the decision by local governments were made, I had a plan to continue ministry anticipating the stay at home orders and limiting the number of people gathering together. Shortly thereafter, leadership and I agreed to cancel Awana for the remainder of the year so that families would have some certainty in their lives and the plan I had could be fully implemented.
You have to understand context. As I noted, we are a small church and a small club. A few families, 21 children if everyone is in attendance. We were scheduled to end our club year at the end of April so cancelling was a total of 6 weeks of club meetings. It allowed a plan to be implemented and not have to worry about a re-entry strategy or many other logistical issues that could arise.
Here is what I planned in anticipation of the stay at home orders:
- I encouraged parents to continue using Awana at home with their children
- Cubbie and Sparks were allowed to have parents or relatives sign their sections as complete during this time, and letting me know their progress for records and awards.
- T&T would need to contact me (if we were a larger club it would have been other leaders as well) via Zoom, Facebook messenger, or other video communication to say their sections and show me the completed Start Here and Explore sections. This was because the T&T handbooks begin the process of larger awards and potential scholarships.
- We recorded Cubbie puppet skits and lessons and made them available via YouTube and the children’s ministry website.
- Sparks and T&T are combined for large group time and we were working trough the Fruit of the Spirit as found in Unit 4 of the T&T handbook. These were also recorded and made available via YouTube and the children’s ministry website.
What I think I did well:
- Having a plan prior to everything closing down and club nights lost.
- Working with church leadership to be in unison.
- Notifying families with the plan to end the club year well the same time we notified them that Awana was cancelled for the remainder of the year so they had some certainty of direction.
- Maintaining communication established in January (a weekly e-mail) to keep families “on-track” and informed.
- Encouraging parents via social media posts
In retrospect, what I might have done different:
- Find a way for parents who were continuing “Awana at Home” to have the patches, stickers, jewels, etc so they could acknowledge their child’s progress as they met milestones.
- Communicate to the children via “snail mail”
- Possibly holding a few online gatherings with the children
In general, our club finished the year well and most of the children who I expected to complete their handbooks accomplished that goal. While I originally had not planned any kind of end of the year program, I am now entrenched in putting together an online event to celebrate the achievement of our clubbers and families. I cannot go into detail, but I have “reached for the stars” which I hope will bless other clubs around the country as well if it comes to fruition.
Instead of having “live” events, I opted to record lessons and make them available “on-demand” since I knew that families schedules would be upset as some parents would be working from home, not working, or any one of many scenarios. Also knowing that schools and others would be “pushing” a lot of online content, parents might be concerned about screen time. By making it “on-demand”, parents could incorporate it into their day while maintaining their screen time limitations.
Now my focus is to see what lessons were learned during this time, and how will that shape discipleship in the future.
You may have several weeks still scheduled, or your year may be coming to its scheduled end quickly. No matter where you are at, it is important to reflect on your response during this time and assess how it will impact your ministry going forward.
Have you assessed your ministry during this time?
Thank you Bill. This is all very helpful.