The Partnership – Week 2-1/2

The third week into the partnership, our church had other plans (town hall meeting and picnic) and so we did not hold Awana this past Sunday night. Possibly because of a communication breakdown (learning how to convey info and communicate well early on) the host church had their small group study planned.

I took this “night off” and still stopped by the church to put supplies in the storage cabinets, since I knew I would have access to the building.

Two interesting things occurred. There were fewer children attending this Sunday night which showed the children’s ministry director there that the parents were bringing their children FOR Awana and not just to watch their children so they could have a “quiet” evening without the children. In my view, I see that it also confirmed the children’s ministry director’s vision that their church needed an additional ministry to disciple their children.

The other thing was that a parent of some of the children was there and stopped to thank me for the Awana ministry there. Her children enjoyed it and it made her comfortable knowing some of the people involved from her homeschool coop.

I am very pleased with the partnership the way it is going, but yet another “twist” is blowing in the wind. I am not at liberty to discuss it at this time, but it will have a major impact on the partnership, how the partnership is viewed by our church and the path we take in the future.

Working out logistics…

We finished the 2nd week of Awana with this partnership last Sunday. The major obstacle now is getting our leadership used to a larger club. We have gone from an expected 12 clubber (maybe 24 last year – yes we lost some for various reasons, mainly people moving) to having 45 Cubbies – 6th grade!!! About 75% are from the host church. This is better than either of us anticipated!!

The partnership is going well!! A member of the host church is so passionate about Awana, that they donated enough to cover 2 week’s rent for us! The host church is alos looking at whether to maintain the rent as is, adjust it, or eliminate it. We have good communication and the children of the host church are excited to be a part. I amvery hopeful to be able to particiapte in Bible Quizzing this year (which we probably would not have been able to do without the partnership) and possibly Awana Games if we can partner with another church, or actually play some of the Awana Games (that’s a story for another time).

Oh, the twist I mentioned before…. the host church is holding a small group study for about 6 weeks while we are holding Awana. This past Sunday was the first night and it seemed to go well, although I was “stuck” in the one room most of the night and didn’t see the adults really at all.

We are off to a very good start and I am eager to see what God will do with our club and this partnership throughout the Awana year.

The First Awana Night of the partnership…

I should have updated this sooner, as our first night was this past Sunday and this is now Thursday.

I was stressing a little more than usual as the evening approached. I like to have a lot of the admin stuff complete and I received registrations from the other church on Friday. I had a regional Awana traiing I was assisting with on Saturday so my time was limited. So on Friday afternoon/evening, I entered the registrations into our recordkeeping software database. If any registrations were received Sunday, they were to e-mailed to me so I could enter the information. Sunday came, and I had 5 registrations e-mailed to me and then a little later, a 6th one came. Sunday afternooon was spent adding the information into the database.

Okay, I hear some of you saying, why the urgency? I wanted to be sure that all the children who had been registered were in the database, so when I printed out the attendance sheets and they checked in, they would see their names on the sheet, not just the kids form my church. This was vital to me to help establish and show that it was a true partnership. Their children and parents would know they were a part of the club. It also helped me to prepare for the night, knowing how many children to expect and how to organize the night with the leadership I had and all of the “first-time” children. Knowing that was a huge asset.

The night went well as people from both churches arrived, not knowing where to go, or exactly what to do. Our church because it was the first time they were entering the facility and not knowing the routine of the night and the other church because this was a new ministry for them.

We had plenty of entrance booklets for Sparks and both T&T clubs, but we were a few short on Cubbie Bear Hugs (all my fault, I forgot to order them and then miscommunication with the Cubbie director – my wife). But all went well. Both myself and the children’s ministry director there felt the night went well.

I did order more supplies, but Awana is running behind on processing and shipping orders. I just checked and they are being “fulfilled” now and so I will probably receive them early next week (after club night), but not to worry, I contacted another church nearby who had extra material that I could borrow until my order came in so I am good for Sunday night, minus some things that Awana has on back-order.

So the first night went well and now I work on getting things “established” and kids in uniforms with handbooks. Then we’ll settle down some and really work on the partnership of the club.

These are exciting times!

The Adventure Begins…

Sunday night we hold our first night of Awana at the other church. I found out today that they have 13 children registered already, I am so excited!! I’ll be getting the information and finding out how the breakout is with the clubs they’ll attend. I think that we are off to a great start.

There is an interesting twist that occurred this week and I’m intrigued to see how it is received by our church members and how it plays out for both churches. I’ll reveal that at a later time, but it could be a sign of things will be seen as working out or not in the long run.

Well, time to go and start prepping for our first night!

“A church alive is worth the drive”

Last night I held training for the new Awana leaders and familiarized them with the facility we will be using in a few weeks. It was a good evening and people were excited when they saw the “big” improvement over what we had access to at the “Y”. Keeping in mind that this facility (another church) is designed for the purpose we are using it, whereas the “Y” is designed for exercise and a preschool. I am hopeful the excitement will spread and the people who have now seen it will share about how much of an improvement it is and how it will benefit not only the Awana ministry and the children, but all of our evening activities. Even the adults seing the room they will be using were impressed and excited about the new location. It will also minimize set-up.

We were able to store things at the “Y” which was a real blesssing, but each wek we would need to move chairs and supplies to prepare for the evening. Now, the adult classroom is already set up, and the church has graciously provided areas where we can place cabinets and store items. A cart will be moved into the preschool area for their supplies, but other than that, there is virtually no need to move a lot of items.

Being provided space to place cabinets in a building already stretched for storage space is a real blessing and continued indication that we are truly working together, partnering, in this endeavor.

Another encouraging sign was a family, who I heard indirectly, had expressed concern about the “extra” drive mentioned that they thought is was closer than our previous location. Now I know that for some it will be an additional 10 minutes (each way) roughly based on where they are coming from and the route they would take. For most it will nopt be a hinderance, but I know that for some, it will be a factor in their decision to attend. As we discussed it briefly, they mentioned that “a church alive is worth the drive”. It’s good to know that they see our church as being alive and moving forward for the Kingdom.

So in less than three weeks, we finalize our preparations and begin with our Awana club. In the next few weeks, we will begin to see how many from the “host” church will be participating, but no matter the number, this is shaping up to be a great partnership and fulfilling a vision of Awana I saw many years ago at a different church.

Look at your club. Do you have several who attend from other churches? How awesome would it be if the number of children from a specific church began to attend, then you invited some of their leadership to participate and learn, and then they began an Awana club there, reaching more children for the Kingdom? I wrote about that in a church newsletter many years ago, and now in a different church, in a different setting, we are doing just that! God is good!

How much more of an impact can we have for Jesus when we serve together, not as “competitors” for people.

Some Concerns

Our church currently has no facility and so as we rent this other church’s facility and entered the partnership, there were some concerns expressed (on both sides) and some personal concerns that I have about the success/failure of the partnership.

General Concerns

1. The “host” church wanted to be sure that our members would not “jump ship” and join their church. We do not anticipate this happening though always a possibility. It was good to know the host church was thinking through scenarios like this as it could cause tension between the churches should it happen.
2. The host church is a little further out than where we had met previously. There was some concern (on our staff’s part) about members driving the extra distance. While this has nothing to do with the partnership, it does speak to the people. Would they be committed to the roughly additional 10 minutes it will take to get there and then return home or would attendance for Sunday evenings drop off?  As we look for land or a facility, location is always a concern. I see this location and partnership as a “test” to see how committed our people are to the church. If this additional 10 minute travel time is a detriment, then as we look at a permanent facility/location, then we will need to factor that into the decision.
3. This is on a trial basis for the year to see how both churches view the partnership as we want to work well together, and not with conflict. This is important as people have different expectations. We want to “play nice” with others, but because we are human, people have  had bad experiences and sometimes expect the “worst”. We are striving for a good scenario of the churches working together.

Personal Concerns

As noted, there are a lot of “unknowns” as we enter this partnership. People in general do not like the “unknown” and so I am getting questions from various people about this fall. My personal concern is that “our people” may be what makes the partnership fail, as they focus on building “our church” and the “need” to have our own facility. Here are some of those questions I have received already…

1) Will their youth be joining our youth on Sunday nights?

Our youth group is small and has struggled to grow for various reasons (a topic for another time on another blog). The question is posed because their children are joining us and so logically the youth should as well, right? Their youth will not be “partnering” with our youth as the children will be. It is our people understanding that we are renting their facility, and their children’s ministry director expressed an interest to parnter, not the youth director. Just like any Awana club, we welcome any child who wants to participate. In this case, it is in their church and we will garner some leaders from them. The children had no other programs (so this meets a need) whereas their youth do. Youth from the “host” church may actually serve in our Awana club! This could be interesting.

2) What if people visit Awana and then join the “host” church and not ours?

Praise God!!!! Our commission is not to build our church, but to make disciples wherever they may attend. This mentality stems from people seeking a permanent facility. We need more members, increased giving, etc before we can get a permanent facility. These thoughts are what hinders churches from partnering together, the competition for members.

3) Why are we paying them for using the facility if they are a part of Awana?

I addressed this in the previous post, but people may still question it.

So as we begin this partnership, there are concerns that we face. Instead of backing down, we will address the issues and concerns head on. I will work to convey to our church the partnership and that we are working together for the Kingdom. Together, we can do great things for God’s Kingdom!

Along this journey, I will share how these concerns are being “tackled”. Posts in the future may be shorter as these posts are designed to give you some background as we begin on this path.

How did this partnership begin?

I have partnered with other churches for Vacation Bible School and for a summer camp, I’ll talk more about those in other posts, and so it was natural for this partnership to form. But we were not looking for the partnership. We were looking for a new place to hold our Awana club meeting as well as our other Sunday evening activities. We were renting a local YMCA which never really was “ideal”, but we made it meet our need because it was what God had provided.

Over the years that we rented the “Y”, they continually expanded their programs and what they offered to the community. This past year, it became clear that the “Y” would no longer meet our need, and so we began to seek out another location for our Sunday evening activities.

We inquired of some churches, some did not have the facilities we required, and others, for various reasons declined to consider our request. One church that we asked about renting space from, after much time and discussion, agreed to let us rent their facility. After an initial contact by one of our church members to the church, I received a phone call from their children’s ministry director asking if their children would be able to participate. I of course said, “Yes!”.

The other church looked at several areas of potential conflict, which we discussed when I met with the senior pastor and children’s ministry director, and they agreed to let us rent the facility.

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. How can I say that we are partnering with them when we are renting their facility for our Awana club? Simply because I am working with the Children’s Ministry Director there to help promote Awana in their church to get their children to attend. They will also be providing leadership to serve in the club. We are coming in renting the facility and working with them. If they have several children and leaders participating, then we will revisit the rate we pay, or if we pay at all.

Our bringing an Awana club to the church was an answer to their prayers. The Children’s Ministry Director has been praying about having a mid-week activity for the children (currently they do not have any). This is not mid-week, but it is another activity that they can offer the children in their church.

So that is how this partnership began. Our Awana club begins Sept. 19th. I will be posting how things are progressing, some of the logistical items and concerns/issues going into this as we approach the start of club.

Why this blog?

I really had not thought about writing this blog until somebody prompted me. You see, all to often, ministries are like islands, fighting for their territory and churches compete for attendees. Is that the way God intended it? I don’t think so.

From my initial beginnings in Awana many years ago, I wondered how much more effective clubs could be if they worked together, shared resources and ideas, thus the development of what is now CommanderBill.net.

I have partnered in ministry with several churches over the last few years and specifically this year, we are partnering with a church to hold Awana. This blog will chronicle that journey. The first few posts will be foundational, how we came together, etc. As the Awana year progresses, I will journal about the joys, the challenges, etc. giving you an inside look at the partnership and how we work together for the Kingdom of God.

My prayer is that people are inspired, learn from our experience and begin partnering with others to reach children for the Kingdom.