09/06/2018
Dear members of Elim and our Awana ministry,
I struggle with giving up the summer season—but the season will change nevertheless! I can always see change coming when I walk into Costco in early August and they are selling coats and sweatshirts. When I think about the end of summer, I struggle to keep a deep disappointment from descending over my spirit! While we may not like a change of season, we can’t stop it.
Every community of faith has seasons too. Ministries come for a season, and then the winds of change begin to blow. For 30 years, Elim has hosted Awana, whose purpose has been “Reaching boys and girls with the gospel of Christ and training them to serve Him.” Throughout the years at Elim, Awana has gone through many seasons of change in seeking to fulfill its purpose effectively. At each transition point, we have had to ask, What’s next? Each time, we made the necessary adjustments and met the challenges for the year(s) to come so that Awana’s purpose could be realized.
This fall, we are facing yet a new season, and we once again find ourselves asking, What’s next? We are facing the challenge of a significant shortage of leaders and helpers for Awana. While our leaders have been praying and inviting others to join the leadership team, we have had very few respond. While similar challenges have arisen at various points in the past 30 years, this year it is more acute, and we are trying to discern why. Here is what we know:
• Family priorities change over time, so availability changes.
• Many people who have served in the past are involved in other ministries or have other priorities beyond the Elim community, so they are no longer available to make the investment in Awana.
• Our Father may be shifting Elim’s ministry priorities toward new outreach opportunities in our South Hill community.
As a result, we will not host an Awana club for this coming year. So what’s next? While we cannot answer this question just yet, we are praying, discerning, and brainstorming ideas. Our goal remains the same: reach boys and girls with the gospel of Christ and train them to serve Him.
I encourage everyone to pray for clarity for our leadership. We have always believed that Jesus is the director of this ministry, and we still do. If He has new and different opportunities to reach out to our South Hill community, we’re on board, even if that means we need to change what we’ve been doing for the past 30 years!
While change can be unnerving, it always brings something new and different, and in God’s Romans 8:28 plan, it’s something better! And that’s exciting.
In Christ,
Martin Schlomer
