WELCOME TO AWANA

The name AWANA comes from the first letters of the verse “Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed” [2 Timothy 2:15].

AWANA GCCI

Here at Great Commission Church’s AWANA Ministry, we provide a structured program for our church’s congregational families to build up their child’s faith on a foundation of the holy scriptures that they may come to understand the fundamental Gospel truths early on and learn to love, obey, and serve the Lord. We hope that the Bible truly becomes a light unto every child’s feet and a lamp unto their paths.

Our AWANA Program is a nine-month program from September to May and is held Friday nights from 7:30-9:30PM in our second floor English Chapel. We enroll children from preschool to the six graders.

Our GCCI AWANA Program is home to about 150 children, and we are always looking for joyful and enthusiastic parent volunteers to come serve with us. Please fill out our “PARENT VOLUNTEER section inside of REGISTRATION FORM” and “AWANA NON-PARENT VOLUNTEER APPLICATION FORM” for more information on how to get involved and join our leadership team.

AWANA CD Resources

OUR MINISTRY STATEMENT

We at GCCI’s AWANA want to build the very best ministry for our very best kids. We are committed to “Pursuing excellence as unto the Lord” and we believe in “teaching and training God’s beloved children to love, obey, and serve the Lord Jesus Christ according to the solid foundation of the Word of God.”

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

The AWANA Children’s Ministry at GCCI requires all AWANA Parents be currently and regularly attending a GCCI Cell Group. If you need more information regarding our church cell group’s please contact the Main Office. All children between the ages of Preschool and Six-Graders are welcome to attend AWANA.

History of Awana

Awana is a global, nonprofit ministry with fully integrated evangelism and long-­term discipleship programs for ages 2 to 18 that actively involves parents and church leaders. Each week, more than 3.7 million children and youth, 470,000 volunteers and 260 field staff take part in Awana in over 47,000 churches around the world. Offered through local churches, Awana reaches kids where they’re at and walks alongside them in their faith journey.

How Did The Awana Program Begin

In 1941, the children’s program at the North Side Gospel Center in Chicago laid the foundation for the principles of Awana. Lance Latham, North Side’s senior pastor, collaborated with the church’s youth director, Art Rorheim, to develop weekly clubs that would appeal to churched and non­churched kids. As a pioneer in children’s ministry, Art created new and innovative ways to reach kids with the gospel and lead them to know, love and serve Jesus Christ.

Other churches learned about the success of the program and inquired about its availability. In 1950, Latham and Rorheim founded Awana as a parachurch organization.

By 1960, 900 churches had started Awana programs. By 1972, Awana began its first international club in Bolivia. Today, children and youth in 104 countries participate in Awana programs and millions of adults are alumni. Awana serves churches from 100 different denominations.

Across the globe, Awana gives kids from every background and cultural setting a place to belong, build confidence and grow in faith. Awana continually expands to make disciples by pursuing new locations and partnerships. God is using the ministry of Awana in prisons, refugee camps, slums and other hard to reach places around the world.

The global reach of Awana has grown at a rapid pace with the goal of reaching 10 million kids with the gospel by 2020. Art Rorheim serves as the Co­Founder/President Emeritus .

What We Believe

We believe that the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is supernaturally inspired, so that it is inerrant in the original manuscripts and preserved by God in its verbal and plenary inspiration, so that it is a divinely authoritative standard for every age and every life. (Matthew 5:18; 1 Corinthians 2:13; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21)

We believe in one God that eternally exists and reveals Himself in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – having each the same nature, attributes, and perfections, worthy of the same worship and confidence. (Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19; John 1:1-2, 14, 10:30, 14:15-17; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 13:14)

We believe in God as absolute and sole creator and sustainer of the universe, and creation was by divine command, from nothing and not through an evolutionary process. (John 1:3, 10; Acts 17:24-25; Genesis 1:1)

We believe that God, by His sovereign choice and out of love for men, sent Christ into the world to save sinners. (John 3:16, 1 Timothy 1:15, 1 John 4:14)

We believe that Jesus Christ was fully God in the flesh and fully man, that He was born of a virgin and that He lived a sinless life, in which He taught and performed mighty works and wonders and signs exactly as revealed in the four gospels. We believe that He was crucified, shed His blood, and died to pay the penalty for our sins and was raised bodily from the dead on the third day. Forty days later He ascended to Father’s right hand where He is head of the church and intercedes for believers. From there He is coming again personally, bodily, and visibly to this earth to setup His millennial Kingdom. (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6; Hebrews 1:1-2, 7:25; Luke 1:30-35; Ephesians 4:8; John 1:1-5, 10-14, 14:3; Colossians 2:9; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Acts 1:3,11; Revelation 20:4)

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person and is God, possessing all the divine attributes. He convicts of sin, regenerates, indwells, baptizes, and seals all believers at the moment of their salvation, filling them in response to yieldedness with the goal of conforming them to the image of Christ. (John 3:5, 16:7-11; Acts 5:3-4; Ephesians 1:13, 4:30, 5:18; 1 Corinthians 6:19, 12:13)

We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God. We believe that all men are morally corrupt, and of themselves utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 1:18, 3:23, 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3, 12)

We believe that salvation is a gift of God and is received by man through personal faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for sin. We believe that man is justified by grace through faith apart from works and that all true believers, once saved, are kept secure in Christ forever.(Acts 13:38-39; Romans 4:5, 6:23, 8:1, 38-39; John 10:27-29; Ephesians 2:8-9)

We believe that the true church is composed of all persons who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit through saving faith in Jesus Christ, and that they are united together in the body of Christ of which He is Lord and Head, and are commissioned for the God-given tasks of worshipping, fellowshipping, teaching, evangelizing, and exercising the spiritual gifts.(Acts 2:42, 47; Romans 12:5; Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:23-24; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14; 2 Corinthians 11:2)

We believe that the establishment and continuance of the local church is clearly taught in the New Testament Scriptures. (Acts 14:27, 20:17, 28-32; 2 Timothy 3:1-13, Titus 1:5-11)

We believe that the local church is autonomous and free of any external authority or control. (Acts 13:1-13, 20:28; Romans 16:1, 4; 1 Corinthians 3:9, 16, 5:4-7, 13; 1 Peter 5:1-4)

We believe the ordinances for the believer are water baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper as a memorial. They are, however, not to be regarded as a means of salvation. But both of which are an evidence of obedience and fellowship with the Lord. (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 2:38, 41, 8:12, 35-38; Luke 22:19-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-29)

We believe that a Christian should walk in holiness and not after the flesh, with the goal of being conformed to the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As a new creation, walking in the Spirit, the Christian learns to grow in faith, in obedience to Scripture, in prayer, in fellowship with the saints, and in a life of service. We believe that the Christian will stand before the judgement seat of Christ and have his life evaluated according to his deeds. (Galatians 5:16-26; Hebrews 10:25; Ephesians 4:20-24; Hebrews 11:6, 12:1-2; John 17:17; Ephesians 6:18; Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15)

We believe in the personal, premillennial, and imminent coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead, of the believer to everlasting glory and the unbeliever to judgement and everlasting conscious punishment. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; Titus 2:11-13; John 14:1-6; Matthew 25:46; Revelation 20:11-15; 2 Peter 3:10)