What is Awana?

The acronym Awana comes from the first letters of Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed as taken from 2 Timothy 2:15.

Awana began in 1950 as a youth program at the North Side Gospel Center in Chicago, Illinois. Lance Latham, the church pastor, worked with Art Rorheim to develop a program that would appeal to young people, reach them with the gospel and train them in the Lord’s work. Other churches heard about the success of the Awana program and asked if they could use it. By 1960, Awana had registered 900 churches to start Awana.

Today, nearly 12,000 U.S. churches run Awana with programs in all 50 states. Awana can also be found in over 4,300 churches in 109 other countries and six continents.