If you have not yet heard the announcement regarding the 4th book in the Journey Series, “Leaders”, then I encourage you to read/watch it from the Awana website.
To summarize the announcement, Awana has put the next Journey book on hold as it focuses on other curriculum. This announcement has created a buzz among those who use the Journey material. Let’s look at some history.
I was in attendance at the Summit where Jeremy Pettitt (serving as the AwanaYM director at the time) announced the new Journey curriculum being developed. The studies would be entitled, Disciples, Advocates, Witnesses, and Leaders. There was great excitement from those in attendance. Since that time, there have been several changes in personnel and structure at Awana. I will not review those changes at this time.
This past week I attended the Children’s Pastors Conference (CPC) where Awana had a booth and Chris Marchand (VP of Partner Solutions at Awana, overseeing all curriculum) would be in attendance to answer questions. Being aware of the probable postponement of the 4th Journey book entitled Leaders, I asked Chris Marchand about it. He confirmed that the fourth book was being delayed though no time table was clearly defined. I did discuss the logical option (to me) which he seemed to agree.
I then inquired what the recommended material would be for the 2019-2020 year. Chris Marchand stated that Awana would recommend Romans and Galatians/Ephesians as the study (these are from the previous Awana materials). This is the logical option since Romans was the last book used for quizzing (as the main study) before Awana went to the new Journey material. This would also keep the Bible reading requirements in the proper sequence. Galatians/Ephesians was also a main study, but I believe also seems as the logical compliment to the Romans study.
I do have some concerns with this decision, as I am sure many reading this have as well. With my concerns I must also provide the disclaimer that I do not know the full picture of what prompted this decision. I must trust Awana when they state that they are being good stewards with what God has given them and the current structure of Awana. Any comments as to why this decision was made on my part would be purely speculative and inappropriate to share in a public forum without adequate supporting information. I encourage you to keep this in mind as you may post/comment publicly so as not to share inappropriate, and possibly false, information based on feeling and speculation. Having said that, here are some concerns:
- Groups who started in the last three years and only know the current material are being asked to go back to materials and format that they have no familiarity. This can cause issues as they realize that (2) books/studies are required, and not just one as with the current material. There is also a different format, style, to the new curriculum. The former material did not have a clearly defined large group / small group component and there are no videos to complement the material to initiate discussion.
- In the video, it is noted that the current materials can be repeated, specifically the Disciples study which was the first book published for the current Journey series. There are multiple concerns with this scenario:
- If Awana decides that Disciples will be the recommended study for the 2020-21 year, then clubs that opted to use it for the next Awana year (2019-20), will do the same book in consecutive years if they follow the recommendation of Awana.
- The Bible reading is not addressed in the announcement. If one repeats the Disciples material and follows the Bible reading noted in the book, then they would not have read the entire Bible.
- The Citation matrix which reflects the requirements for achieving the Citation award would need to be revised to reflect this anomaly in the path to Citation and scholarships.
My personal recommendation to Awana is to publicly announce the recommended study for next year and give a specific timetable as to when the Leaders book will be released. In my discussion with Chris Marchand at CPC, my understanding was that the Leaders book would be released in four years, when it would again naturally fall in to place with the series. To me, that is the logical decision to minimize confusion with Bible readings, cycle, etc.; though Awana would need to make that public statement as I do not speak for Awana.
There will be much discussion about this over the next few days and weeks. One question already posed is how will this affect Summit. The Summit team is aware of the announcement and are working to address it as plans are made for Summit 2020. For Summit information, keep checking the Summit website and blog.
As noted in the announcement by Awana, “If you have more questions about these please contact our customer care team or reach out to us on social media and we’d be happy to follow up with you.” I would also encourage you to contact your local Awana missionary who should be able to answer questions as well and pass your concerns along to Awana.
