Awana
“Awana” is a Christian youth work held in connection with the Port Lincoln Free Presbyterian Church in South Australia. The name “Awana” stands for “Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed”, this motto is taken from 2 Timothy 2:15 where Paul exhorted young Timothy “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”. At the start of each Awana meeting the young people and children after singing their national and Awana anthems, read this verse out aloud as a group.
This particular youth work has been running for over 10 years and 2005 saw its 10th anniversary. It began back in 1995 when several of the people in the church were concerned that the church children and young people were in danger of wandering and therefore a Christian Youth Work was needed for a focus. Awana is part of an international Christian organization, its primary desire and objective is to reach boys and girls with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and train them to serve Him.
Each Friday (excluding school holidays), children from around the area gather into the hall at the back of the church on Forbes Street, Port Lincoln. The meeting has three parts; games time, study time, and counsel time. All the children are split into four teams, and during the games and study times the teams earn points. At the end of the night, the team with the highest points win prizes for the individuals in the team.
The counsel time is at the end of the meeting for 20-30 minutes, and during this period one of the leaders will speak to the children by bringing a story, object lesson, or a quiz. It is at this time where the children are also carefully encouraged to seek the Lord Jesus Christ to be their personal Saviour.