During the Awana Ministry Conference in 2018, many missionaries showed a video produced by Awana. It was the story of David Dickinson, a heart wrenching story that highlights the hope we can give to children. The importance of building relationships, the importance of reaching the child where they are and their needs.
At around the 3:23 mark, David shares that his Awana leader challenged him to memorize Bible verses but many people overlook the three words that precede that challenge. The three words that he says are, “later that year”. Later that year his leader challenged David to memorize Bible verses. To me, that implies that for several weeks or months, David did not pass a section or memorize any verses. Think about that, for several weeks, or months, David did not memorize and his leader still took time to build a relationship to be able to speak into his life to encourage him to memorize later that year.
How many clubs “punish” clubbers who do not actively work to complete a section, or do not pass a section after a few weeks? I can imagine that if David’s club “punished” him for not completing sections that he probably would not have returned. How many children do we turn away because we stick closely to a policy over building a relationship and getting to know the child?
For convenience, I am posting the video below. At the 3:23 mark, after he talks about the father-son event, listen closely to those three words and see if it impacts you the way that it impacted me.
In your club this year, I encourage you to build relationships with your clubbers. The awards are a nice side benefit, but they should not be the main reason we meet for Awana.
The absolute worst to me is “No section—no game time!”
Hi Rick, I agree. That is what happens when a human goal is given more importance than reaching a child.
Also implicit in the presentation is that his leader did not lower the standard, but challenged him to strive for it. No surprise that not only did he achieve it, but continued onward to a leadership position. Learning disabilities aside, it can be equally detrimental to our clubbers when we lower our standards for scripture memorization.