Does anyone have recent experience with AWANA clubs?

[Glass Cowcatcher]

When I was a kid I was involved AWANA clubs. It was fun and I liked being able to collect a bunch of bling if I could convince my leaders that I had memorized some verses.

I don't think it had much of a lasting affect on me, brainwashing-wise, but looking back on those memories as an adult several things about the program bothered me. The clubs aggressively promoted children to bring their friends for visits and some of the theme songs now strike me as very militant, bordering on violent.

I attended in the late 90's so it's bordering on 15 years since I've had any of the curriculum in hand, and today I got to wondering whether the AWANA doctrine has shifted in the same way as many mainstream churches? They already seemed to have the "popular appeal" part down, and I wonder if they've also taken a hard rightward shift.

I haven't found any real criticisms online, just a few who disagree with the nuances of the theology, but since this is many children's first exposure to Christianity and the AWANA network quite literally spans the globe, I wonder if they might be experiencing fundy creep too?

[snarkbillie]

My kids went 5-8 years ago when we were still fundie-lite. I didn't really have a problem with the songs (although we didn't do the AWANA songs I don't think) but the aggressive recruiting did bother me a bit. They also seemed to expect them to memorize too many verses each week and I thought it was too much pressure on little kids so we quit.

[emmiedahl]

My middle son was invited by a friend and went once. It was right before Halloween and he really wanted to return for their "Harvest Party" and bring all of his friends because there was some huge prize for the person who brought the most people. I don't remember what it was, but it was enough that he was willing to forfeit his trick-or-treating! I said no because I am a bitch like that.

[BravaAmica]

One of DSs friends goes to AWANA. I finally had to tell the mom to stop asking if DS could go to AWANA. We're not interested. And DS is an athiest. I did take him to Sunday school when he was younger but when he said he didn't like it, I no longer took him to church.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

My kids went 5-8 years ago when we were still fundie-lite. I didn't really have a problem with the songs (although we didn't do the AWANA songs I don't think) but the aggressive recruiting did bother me a bit. They also seemed to expect them to memorize too many verses each week and I thought it was too much pressure on little kids so we quit.

I hated it when I attended because I am not a social person, I did not have friends to invite who weren't already there.

As for the lyrics, here's the theme song:

Awana Theme Song

Firmly Awana stands, led by the Lord’s commands,

“Approved workmen are not ashamed,â€

Boys and girls for His service claimed!

Hail! Awana! On the march for youth;

Hail! Awana! Holding forth the truth.

Building lives on the Word of God Awana stands!

Our Savior following with steps unfaltering,

And love unaltering, His praise we sing,

His banner over us, in service glorious,

We’ll fight victorious for Christ our King!

YOUTH ON THE MARCH!

I do not like the imagery of young children being part of a military, nor do I like how it makes children who are not part of awana into something to be conquered.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

My middle son was invited by a friend and went once. It was right before Halloween and he really wanted to return for their "Harvest Party" and bring all of his friends because there was some huge prize for the person who brought the most people. I don't remember what it was, but it was enough that he was willing to forfeit his trick-or-treating! I said no because I am a bitch like that.

I would have to be a bitch too if my offspring were asked.

I'm not inherently opposed to them attending religious functions but I don't like these things that specifically try to recruit children.

[desertvixen]

My daycare provider at my last duty station (yes, like a month and half ago!) was what I'd consider "semi-fundie-light" - bigger family, but birth control used after the fifth child, Christian, but not skirts-only or any of the more extreme stuff - and she took my daughter (with my permission) a few times. She did invite me to go, but I explained we were focused on Girl Scouts.

I did not like the whole pledge to the Christian flag deal.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

My daycare provider at my last duty station (yes, like a month and half ago!) was what I'd consider "semi-fundie-light" - bigger family, but birth control used after the fifth child, Christian, but not skirts-only or any of the more extreme stuff - and she took my daughter (with my permission) a few times. She did invite me to go, but I explained we were focused on Girl Scouts.

I did not like the whole pledge to the Christian flag deal.

I think AWANA is meant to be a Christian alternative to Scouting.

[SealFan1963]

My daughter went a few times with the neighbor kids. Mostly on the 'fun' nights like crazy hair day or water fight day. She didn't want to go back again after one of the teachers screamed at her that she could not attend again unless she signed up as a student, so she was done.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

My daughter went a few times with the neighbor kids. Mostly on the 'fun' nights like crazy hair day or water fight day. She didn't want to go back again after one of the teachers screamed at her that she could not attend again unless she signed up as a student, so she was done.

Screamed? Never appropriate, ever.

[desertvixen]

I think AWANA is meant to be a Christian alternative to Scouting.

That was the impression I got - their youngest was in Daisies with my daughter as well, but she's the first girl in their family to want to do Scouts.

[slh12280]

I went every week when I was a kid, so about 12 plus years ago. I just remember singing songs, playing games and learning verses. And yes, those militant theme songs I can still recall. Of course there were "Bible drills" which I actually got pretty good at!

[FloraDoraDolly]

I went to AWANA for two years in the early 1980s. (I can remember that song!) A couple of my neighbors went to it, so I went with them. I liked it the first year, but I wasn't as into it the second year. I couldn't see the point in memorizing isolated Bible verses. Plus, I had moved from grade school to junior high at that point and had more homework, more school activities, etc. Memorizing all those verses began to feel like a hassle, especially when I wasn't really learning anything from them. But I liked the games, I liked the kids, and some of the teachers were nice.

An added note... The AWANA club I belonged to met at a Christian school, where most of the other clubbers were students. When I graduated from elementary school, I asked my parents if I could go to the Christian school instead of the public junior high, which had a sinister reputation. My parents looked into the school, but found that it wasn't accredited. If I went there, I wouldn't be able to get into a good college later on in life. So I went to the public junior high. I stopped going to AWANA when my neighbors moved, but I probably would have dropped out anyway.

And so endeth my weekly experience with the fundies.

[CrazySister]

My first experience(s) was as a 10 or 11 year old. I went a couple times when a neighbor asked. I hated it. It was extremely clique-ish and the teachers/leaders clearly played favorites. I didn't feel welcome at all. I was already extremely awkward socially so that just added to my discomfort. I also wasn't very good at memorizing the random verses and remember feeling shamed as a result of it.

My second experience with it was as a young adult. I attended a fundy-lite church and AWANA was a huge part of it. I quickly noticed there were two groups of people - those who did AWANA and those who didn't. The AWANA-lovers were very pro-AWANA-it's-the-be-all-end-all with church and held their noses up at those who weren't active in AWANA. I learned VERY quickly not to bring up any questions, concerns, or hesitations I had regarding the cliques surrounding it.

I've always wondered if others thought it as questionable as I did. Good to know there are!

[starfish]

I'm curious about AWANA also. It's been creeping into Baptist churches. Part of the reason for the creep is that men won't volunteer to be leaders in the traditional R.A. (Royal Ambassador) programs, so they combine the sexes and the women run AWANA. I have heard it's fundy but I do not know anything about it.

R.A.'s in our church is more like I expect Scouts to be with emphasis on camping, etc.

[Coconut Flan]

I loathed AWANA. It seemed odd and peculiar to me and yes cliques.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

My second experience with it was as a young adult. I attended a fundy-lite church and AWANA was a huge part of it. I quickly noticed there were two groups of people - those who did AWANA and those who didn't. The AWANA-lovers were very pro-AWANA-it's-the-be-all-end-all with church and held their noses up at those who weren't active in AWANA. I learned VERY quickly not to bring up any questions, concerns, or hesitations I had regarding the cliques surrounding it.

I've always wondered if others thought it as questionable as I did. Good to know there are!

There were SO many AWANA activities, beyond the weekly meetings, that I can see this happening quite easily.

That's why I see AWANA as ripe indoctrination ground if it starts to take a fundy twist. It's set up to involve the whole family, so it's easy to start pushing "traditional" family stuff, and well-networked.

[constantgardener]

This reminds me of something I attended when I was about 9 or 10 (mid-80's) called the Children's Christian Crusade. As I remember it was like a sort of 'travelling' group which holed up at the local Baptist Church for a couple of weeks. I wasn't Baptist but I remember them 'recruiting' outside our school gates and I went because all my friends were going. In fact virtually the whole school went (there wasn't much to do in our town!) and it was on every night for a week or two. I remember a lot of singing and quite a militant atmosphere but not much else. Google doesn't bring anything up - does this ring any bells with anyone else in the UK? Anyone know if they're still around?

[TVR]

Our kids attend AWANA. They love it. I think so much depends on the particular club as well. Although one of their "sections" is to bring a friend, we have only ever taken one other child with us (the son of a fellow Christian homeschooler), our kids have never been made to feel bad about not bringing other kids.

We do some of the extra activities, we choose not to do others. No pressure. I like that our AWANA group is made up of homeschooled kids and kids from public and private schools. I like that it is culturally very diverse.

[FloraDoraDolly]

There were SO many AWANA activities, beyond the weekly meetings, that I can see this happening quite easily.

That's why I see AWANA as ripe indoctrination ground if it starts to take a fundy twist. It's set up to involve the whole family, so it's easy to start pushing "traditional" family stuff, and well-networked.

AWANA must have changed a lot since I was a kid. Back then, they just had the weekly meetings, an awards ceremony at the end of the school year, and some kind of camp/jamboree event. They had parent volunteers who supervised the activities and listened to the kids reciting their Bible verses, but for the most part the parents weren't around. In general, parents are more involved with their kids' extracurricular activities than they were a generation ago, so I am not surprised if AWANA has gone in this direction.

[Kitty]

AWANA must have changed a lot since I was a kid. Back then, they just had the weekly meetings, an awards ceremony at the end of the school year, and some kind of camp/jamboree event. They had parent volunteers who supervised the activities and listened to the kids reciting their Bible verses, but for the most part the parents weren't around. In general, parents are more involved with their kids' extracurricular activities than they were a generation ago, so I am not surprised if AWANA has gone in this direction.

That's all it was when I was in it, and that was... 8 years ago? 7? I was also involved in elementary school, ages 6 to 8ish. So it's either VERY recent, or it depends on the church. My church was fairly small (250ish people, IIRC) and after the building itself was built, not particularly wealthy either.

I thought of the militant song mentioned upthread. At the time I didn't think much of it (I was between 6 and 12, come on) but looking back and hearing all the "persecution" bullshit, now it's rather... :? AWANA is already pretty conservative, so introducing the "traditional family" bullshit will be a piece of cake.

I wasn't involved much beyond the weekly meetings and awards ceremony, but my church did do the camp.

[FloraDoraDolly]

That's all it was when I was in it, and that was... 8 years ago? 7? I was also involved in elementary school, ages 6 to 8ish. So it's either VERY recent, or it depends on the church. My church was fairly small (250ish people, IIRC) and after the building itself was built, not particularly wealthy either.

I thought of the militant song mentioned upthread. At the time I didn't think much of it (I was between 6 and 12, come on) but looking back and hearing all the "persecution" bullshit, now it's rather... :? AWANA is already pretty conservative, so introducing the "traditional family" bullshit will be a piece of cake.

I wasn't involved much beyond the weekly meetings and awards ceremony, but my church did do the camp.

I don't remember AWANA touching on political or social issues at all when I was there, but the religious right was just getting started at that time. The meetings I went to had a story/discussion time for kids in grades 3 through 8, but the stories were always about little boys who had done something wrong or who needed to be taught a lesson. IIRC, they had a group for high school kids but they met upstairs at a different time. Maybe they got more into the family values business there?

[Kitty]

I don't remember AWANA touching on political or social issues at all when I was there, but the religious right was just getting started at that time. The meetings I went to had a story/discussion time for kids in grades 3 through 8, but the stories were always about little boys who had done something wrong or who needed to be taught a lesson. IIRC, they had a group for high school kids but they met upstairs at a different time. Maybe they got more into the family values business there?

Truth N Training and younger groups don't get into social/political issues at all, unless you count smattering of creationism here and there. They are pretty theologically conservative. I should have been clearer. I do think though that it would be absurdly easy to shoehorn in social and political issues, still. They're likely already hearing all of that shit from the pulpit.

I honestly don't remember if the high school group I was very briefly a part of (it was actually 7th grade and up, iirc) was an AWANA group, because there were t-shirts but we never had to memorize verses. They did get into abortion though, and I'm pretty sure I've told that story before.

[GenerationCedarchip]

I remember doing both Girl Scouts and AWANA. I guess a lot must depend on individual clubs. In AWANA, we were told that we were always welcome to bring friends but they never really hounded us about it. I remember it as being kind of like a much more fun version of Sunday School. We did lots of games and group activities. I remember doing Bible drills and the flag pledge and there were plenty of fundie stories (stuff that sounds like what Lamplighter puts out now), but I don't remember the songs at all.

Girl Scouts, on the other hand, was pretty miserable. I liked it for the first couple of years, but our troop leader was an Army wife and they got transferred. After that, it all got very cliquish. If your parents weren't members of the right clubs in town, you weren't going to be part of the "in" group. I still liked the regional summer camp, but the troop itself was pretty dismal.

[TVR]

I have kids in Sparks, T&T, Trek. I honestly have never seen/heard any social/political issues being discussed.

We're in Canada, there is not pledging to the flag but we do sing Oh, Canada. There are lots of games and group activities and then they have their verse time.