Awana

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Marsha_Adams said:
Give your godchild a stuffed animal preferably homemade. Before you give it to her, insert a green Scapular in the stuffing and resew the seam. Pray the Scapular prayer for her everyday. Our Lady will protect her and bring her home when the time is right.
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👍 I LOVE THAT IDEA! 😃
 
A local independent fundamentalist Baptist church uses the AWANA program if that tells you anything about it. 😉 I personally don’t know much about the program but I definitely don’t trust it.
 
I clipped the following off an AWANA site. It should show the mindset of AWANA very well. They view Catholics and Orthodox as nonchristians in need of conversion.
Gaza’s reality
Gaza smells of salt and decay, a place where donkeys are left to rot where they fall, where violence is normal and life for most is a hopeless, toxic mix of poverty, sickness, joblessness, illiteracy and domestic abuse. The Gaza Strip’s 1.3 million people live on a speck of land the size of Corpus Christi, Texas, a city that holds just one-fifth of Gaza’s population. The United Nations says 70 percent of Gazans live on less than $2 a day. Israel, which controls the strip, allows few Gazans out and few visitors in.
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Almost all Gazans are Muslim. Only 9,600 are considered “Christian.” Most attend a Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic or Anglican church because that’s where their families have belonged for generations. Christian numbers are dropping as many of those who can are fleeing their homeland for places that offer brighter futures – Europe, the United States and South America. Just about anywhere is better than the dead-end existence that Gazans collectively face. Some even become Muslim.
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Among those pressed on all sides are children from nominal Christian backgrounds. Their Muslim friends, neighbors and teachers also constantly urge them to convert to Islam.
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Fun, fellowship and faith building
So twice a week, Gaza Baptist Church’s chartered Awana bus stops by the houses and apartment buildings of approximately 100 children to take them to an afternoon of fun, fellowship and filling their hearts with God’s Word. It’s hard to overstate the importance of Awana to children from traditional backgrounds – and to the gospel’s future presence in Gaza. Awana is reaching children who were raised in the church but were never grounded in their faith.
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Tiny but growing Gaza Baptist, planted some 50 years ago by Southern Baptist missionaries, is the Gaza Strip’s only evangelical church. Almost all Awana clubbers are Greek Orthodox or Roman Catholic. And they’re not only coming to Christ but also are reaching their parents, friends and neighbors with the gospel.
Before Awana began at Gaza Baptist as an outreach primarily to nominal Christian children two years ago, “These children didn’t know anything about the Bible,” says Suhad Massad, director of Gaza’s Awana club and wife of Gaza Baptist’s pastor, Hanna Massad. “They didn’t know what is inside the Bible, and they didn’t know the verses. The main idea is to let them know more deeply the Bible.”
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Memorizing verses comes from the belief that there may come a time when bibles will be banned. The only way we will be able to “read” our bibles will be our memory banks.
 
hays1122 said:
Memorizing verses comes from the belief that there may come a time when bibles will be banned. The only way we will be able to “read” our bibles will be our memory banks.
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I am all in favor of memorizing Bible verses, we should all do more of it. But any group that actively tries to steal our children away from the Church should be avoided like the plague.
 
Awana exists to raise up good little Baptist boys and girls. If you want good little Baptist boys and girls, send your kids to AWANA.
 
hays1122 said:
Memorizing verses comes from the belief that there may come a time when bibles will be banned. The only way we will be able to “read” our bibles will be our memory banks.
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I think this is a little unfair assertion. The memorization of sacred texts has an ancient history in the Catholic Church. There were monks who devoted their lives to the preservation and memorization of Scripture. We have it today because it was safeguarded by the Church in this way. I’m currently reading a book on the nature of sacred space which contains an essay devoted to the sacred space of Scripture itself–from the illuminations to the binding, etc. There are some wonderful quotes from saints regarding the memorization of Scripture–not least of which would be Saint Jerome’s comment that ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ.

To get back on the topic at hand, our children had a pleasant (albeit brief) experience with Awana. We didn’t have any real problems, but we may not have kept them in long enough to note any of these. Given the extant of bad experiences from across the country, though, I’d agree that it’s probably a good move to steer clear of Awana. Instead, I’d suggest that you explore starting a program like it perhaps at your own parish. We need more instruction for our kids, and this would be a great endeavor.
 
Writer said:
I think this is a little unfair assertion. The memorization of sacred texts has an ancient history in the Catholic Church. There were monks who devoted their lives to the preservation and memorization of Scripture. We have it today because it was safeguarded by the Church in this way. I’m currently reading a book on the nature of sacred space which contains an essay devoted to the sacred space of Scripture itself–from the illuminations to the binding, etc. There are some wonderful quotes from saints regarding the memorization of Scripture–not least of which would be Saint Jerome’s comment that ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ.

To get back on the topic at hand, our children had a pleasant (albeit brief) experience with Awana. We didn’t have any real problems, but we may not have kept them in long enough to note any of these. Given the extant of bad experiences from across the country, though, I’d agree that it’s probably a good move to steer clear of Awana. Instead, I’d suggest that you explore starting a program like it perhaps at your own parish. We need more instruction for our kids, and this would be a great endeavor.
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I was not just making an assertion.
I was stating what I learned in my church about why we should memorize scripture.
 
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hays1122:
I don’t know how to fix this. I’d like to add my response to what was written and somehow my response didn’t show up.
I’m sure i messed up somehow.
What I wanted to say is that I was not just making an assertion.
I was stating what I learned in my church about why we should memorize scripture.
 
I went to Awana as a kid all the from cubbies(preschool age) up through junior high. I was raised in a small baptist church and am now becoming Catholic. I think memorizing all that Scripture was great- it actually helps me now as i "debate back and forth with my protestant friends. Some of the clubs you guys talk about sound terrible- but i can’t remember mine being that bad…🤷 i mean now i wouldn’t ever send my kids to one now seeing as how i’m becoming catholic, but its not like a think its some evil sinful program.
 
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