WausaAwana

06/12/2026

A Summer in Scripture

Summer’s here! How are you feeling about this? Excited? Stressed? Are you ready for a break from the normal routine, or are you worried about keeping your kids busy (and the house intact) without it?

While the summer break provides kids a much-needed rest after a year of classes, projects and tests, it can also be a little daunting for parents who are wondering, “Well what do we do now?”

In response, the temptation can be to fill up your family’s schedule with camps, trips and other activities. But before you do, stop for a moment. Take a breath and consider: What do you want your kids to get out of this time, and how do you want your family to feel at the end of it? Ask the Lord to guide you as you look at the weeks ahead. Involve your kids too! Ask them what kind of summer they want to have and work together to create a rhythm that can benefit the whole family.

And don’t forget, discipleship doesn’t take a break even when your church’s weeknight programs do. Lean in this summer and take advantage of every extra moment to teach your kids about the Lord and His ways. If you’re looking for help, we’ve created God’s Story: A Summer in the Gospel Together just for you! It’s a FREE resource packed full with family worship guides, activities and other devotional moments.
You can access it from the Child Discipleship site here:
https://childdiscipleship.com/resource/gods-story-a-summer-in-the-gospel-together/

We pray God’s Story will help your family draw closer to the Lord this summer, and that it will help you make this time more intentional, restful and joy-filled as you prepare for the next year.

Talk About This One Thing:
“What do you want God to teach you this summer?”

Continue the Conversation:

1. Choose a book of the Bible to read and study together as a family this summer.
2. Download God’s Story: A Summer in the Gospel Together and do the first week’s activity together!
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See you next week!
The Child Discipleship Team

06/05/2026

Anyone have a spare “Happy Camper” Mug?

My daughter broke my favorite mug yesterday. She was emptying the dishwasher (amazing, right?), and it slipped out of her hand and crashed on the floor. We had a little talk about how nothing on Earth lasts forever and moved on with our day.

While I am slightly bummed about my broken “Happy Camper” mug, I’m thankful for the reminder to truly treasure what matters most.



Talk About This One Thing:
“What is something that can never be destroyed?” ​​​​​

Continue the Conversation:

Read this conversation guide with your family and consider what your family treasures.
https://d1v3zx42axhpfd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/protected/2024/07/2023_treasure_week_2_guide.pdf

Treasure God’s Word together! Create a scavenger hunt for your kids. Hide Scripture verses around your house. Once they’ve all been found, share a treat and read the verses together.

Memorize Matthew 6:19 with this Memory Melody video.
https://d1v3zx42axhpfd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023-Treasure-Week-2-Memory-Melody.mp4

See you next Friday!
Shawna & The Discipleship Engagement Team

05/30/2026

True and False

Friends can have a huge impact on our lives, for good and ill. In fact, some research shows that friendships and peer pressure can sometimes have a greater influence on kids than even their parents. Scary, right? It doesn’t have to be.

Instead of jumping to worry, statistics like these should encourage us to have open, honest and encouraging conversations with our kids about the types of friends they have and teach them to have discernment in their relationships. The reality is that as they grow, we can’t be with them all the time, especially during the school day. But we can give them tools to help them tell the difference between true and false friends and know what to do when their peers are leading them astray. Here are a few questions you can teach them to use to evaluate:

Are my friends kind? Do they care about me and others?
Can I depend on my friends to be there for me when I’m going through a hard time?
Do I feel pressured to join in with things my friends are doing even when I know they’re wrong?
Do my friends model Christlike behavior?
Do the people I surround myself with make me want to be more like Christ and encourage me in my walk with Him?
Child discipleship isn’t just about teaching our kids “the right answers,” but also making wise decisions in every area of life that will help them draw closer to Christ and become more and more like Him every day. It’s not easy, but we can praise God that He’s with us every step of the way.

Talk About This One Thing:
“Who are the friends that mean the most to you and why?”


Continue the Conversation:

1. Together, memorize Proverbs 17:17: A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

2. Read to your kids about friendships in the Bible like David and Jonathan (1 Samuel 19:1–7; 20:1–42) and Job’s friends (the book of Job). Discuss the difference between these friends and the qualities to both look for and avoid in friendships.

See you next week!
The Child Discipleship Team

05/23/2026

For Good

Recently, my son and I were talking about the Fruits of the Spirit. We got to goodness and faithfulness and I asked him, “What does that mean to you?” His confused response made me realize just how difficult these big concepts can be to explain in practice.

As parents, what are we to do? For me, the best place to start was with God Himself, the originator of these attributes.

Our God is so good. His love is steadfast and it endures forever (Psalm 136). Even when we lack faith, He is faithful. And even though we were full of sin, He showed His goodness and mercy to us by paying the debt for those sins Himself through His Son Jesus Christ (Romans 5:8). Because of God’s goodness, through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can do good to others. The more faithfully we obey and trust in Him, the more we see the evidence of His faithfulness and goodness all around us.

So, when you talk to your kids this week, before mentioning practical steps they can take to demonstrate the Fruits of goodness and faithfulness, first point them to God, who first modeled them for us. After all, without Him, they, just as all things, are impossible for us.

Talk about this one thing:
“How has God been faithful to you? How has He been good to you?”


Continue the Conversation

1. Read aloud Psalm 136, pausing to explain and ask questions for comprehension. Once you are finished, play “Forever” by Chris Tomlin — sing and have a dance party together!

2. Together, memorize Psalm 136:1: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.

3. Together, make a list of ways God has shown His goodness and faithfulness to your family.

See you next week!
Melanie Hester and the Child Discipleship Team

05/15/2026

When Less Is More

Do you ever feel like you’re drowning in “things to do”? Or have you ever felt like you spend more time driving your kids to activities than you do at home with them?

We live in a culture of “more is more.” And if you’re a parent or caregiver, you probably feel the pressure to get your kids involved in more activities, more sports, more academics, more, more, more. Because if you don’t give your kids opportunities to do every single thing, then you don’t really care about them, right?

But what if more isn’t always better? What if doing less actually leads to
more — to happier kids, to a healthier balance, to more opportunities to grow in the Lord together? As the school year draws to a close, now is a perfect time to check in, evaluate how things are going, and see what might need to change that will help you do less so you can have “more”.

Here are a few questions you can ask:
Does our schedule allow us time to rest and spend quality time together?
Do our current family rhythms allow us to be intentional in our relationships with each other and with God?
What habits or routines should we keep, start or stop that can help us accomplish these things this summer?
We pray answering these questions will lead to more rest and more opportunities for intentional discipleship so that your family can be stronger and healthier in the ways that matter most.

Talk About This One Thing:
“Why does God say it is important to rest?”
(See Genesis 2:2–3 and Exodus 20:8–11.)

Continue the Conversation:

1. Together, memorize Genesis 2:3: So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

2. Take a look at your family’s schedule and see what you can change so that you can set aside time for intentional moments of rest.

See you next week!
The Child Discipleship Team

P.S. For more about this and other topics, check out the new season of The Child Discipleship Podcast! Episode one is out now, and new episodes will be released every Wednesday, with video episodes available on YouTube.

Child Discipleship Podcast: https://go.pardot.com/e/36072/podcasts-/wgk477/1255908744/h/w5tt6qIgrk_syG7o2Y8Eu4849hugBsRJ_-AVDIuxjA8

https://go.pardot.com/e/36072/v8cCXsJ-FgvXB1ctnnTyRnl2iVECVx/wgk47b/1255908744/h/w5tt6qIgrk_syG7o2Y8Eu4849hugBsRJ_-AVDIuxjA8

04/24/2026

When You Don’t Have the Answer

Dear Parents & Guardians,
Do your kids ever ask you questions like, “Why do bad things happen?” Or have they or their friends gone through difficult circumstances and they’re struggling with how to process them?

As parents and caregivers, it’s our job to walk our kids through them and help them understand when they have questions. But when we ourselves don’t have the answers, what are we to do? Here are few ideas and tips we hope will help:

Check in with yourself first. Are you worried about the situation? If so, stop. Ask God for peace, meditate on His Word and talk to others who can help you so that you can better help your kids.
Be honest but age appropriate. Depending on their age, kids don’t necessarily need every detail of what’s going on. But giving them general, high level facts about what’s going on can be helpful. Examples: Someone made bad decisions and hurt a lot of people; or, ____ is sick, so let’s pray for them.
Point to God and provide reassurance. Remind your kids that even though the world is broken, God has a good plan, He will always be with them, and they can trust Him. Reassure them that you are there for them too and they can always talk to you when they have
concerns.
We know navigating difficult circumstances with your kids can be … difficult. And we want to make sure you are equipped to handle whatever may come up. That’s why we created Talking Together: Truths for Tough and Timely Conversations. (The church has a bunch! Ask us for one of these mini-books!) And don’t forget to subscribe to the Child Discipleship Podcast for more rich, practical child discipleship conversations. (https://childdiscipleship.com/podcasts)

Talk About This One Thing:
“Is there anything you or someone you know is struggling with today?”

Continue the Conversation:
1. This week, look up verses in the Bible that point to the ways God gives us peace and protects us. The psalms and verses like Deuteronomy 31:6, Isaiah 41:10 and Romans 8:31 are great places to start.
2. Choose one of the above verses to memorize with your family and talk about how you’ve seen it be true in your life.

See you next week!
The Child Discipleship Team

04/20/2026

04/20/2026

This year we had 27 amazing volunteers devoting their time and energy to child discipleship through the Awana program. As a way of showing gratitude, 8 clubbers gave up an afternoon to make cookies for them. Here's the photos of that fun adventure.

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04/18/2026

Thank you to The Boxcar Sweet Stop in Yankton for providing us a discount on candy sticks for our end of the year celebrations! Our clubbers enjoyed them!

04/16/2026