Last year, when I started wrestling with the “why” behind Western Hills’ desire to Love God, Live Connected, Serve All, and Multiply Another, I had no idea where it was going to take me.  All I knew was that there was a ‘Holy Discontent’ within me.  As wonderful as Love, Live, Serve, and Multiply is, I really believed that there was another step to take, a clarifying definition of WHY these words are so important.  As I started walking through my discontent with our other pastors and elders, clarity came through a devotion from Dallas Willard.

He didn’t say anything radical or new.  Just timely.  He said that there are hundreds of people that we live next to every single day that are dying and going to hell, because they have never seen the reality of Jesus lived out in front of them.  This, at its core, is the essence of Kingdom living.  This is what it SHOULD mean to follow Jesus…that we live out the reality of Jesus in our lives for all people, particularly those that are far from Gospel.

So there it was… the why behind Love, Live, Serve, and Multiply…

To live out the reality of Jesus for those who are far from the Gospel.

Then came the hard part.  How do we flesh this out inside of Western Hills?  How are we going to take this focus to every single ministry?  As many of you know, that’s exactly what we have been doing this past year, and that’s meant some changes for us.

In a few weeks, Awana is going to kick back up, and all throughout this summer, our Awana leaders have put in a ton of work in order to make this vision a reality for our programming on Wednesday nights.

What are some of the changes?

Those who do not have a church home, as well as those who consider Western Hills their church home, will no longer have to pay to participate in Awana.  For those that call WHC home, part of your tithe goes to paying for the ministries of this church.  For those who don’t have a church home, you shouldn’t have to pay to get your kids around the Gospel.

The focus will be on spending more time with kids, making sure they understand the story, instead of just making sure they’ve memorized the right words.  Our leaders want more time to spend teaching and applying the Scriptures, as this models true discipleship, instead of only focusing on memorization.

Focus will be placed on serving through our partnerships with Trash Mountain Project, Topeka Rescue Mission, and BackSnacks instead of earning points and Awana Bucks for prizes.  While the Awana Bucks and points had an element of fun, we felt like it ultimately was distracting from a larger opportunity, the opportunity to serve others, not ourselves.  So instead of the Christmas Store and the Awards Ceremony, we will be focusing on serving our Community.

We will attempt to create a culture where everyone feels welcomed and loved instead of focusing on uniforms and pledges.  Ultimately we want kids to know and experience the love of Jesus, not worry about saying pledges or wearing uniforms that really have nothing to do with Him.  Uniforms and tshirts will be offered, but completely optional.  This is going to make inviting a guest a lot easier.

We will be empowering parents to have a larger role in their kids’ spiritual development instead of making sure everything goes through an Awana leader.  The number one influence on a child’s understanding and pursuit of God is his parents.  There’s not even a close 2nd.  So we are going to start doing everything we can to help you become the ‘spiritual Yoda’ for your child.  This can start by simply allowing you, as the parent, to sign off on the verses that your child has memorized.

Some things aren’t changing.  There are still going to be those crazy nights of Duct Tape, Crazy Socks, and whatever else our leaders have up their sleeves.  Most importantly, there are still going to be those incredible volunteers that love hanging out with kids and pointing them to Jesus.

All of this just fires me up.  I LOVE seeing our people get captured by the vision of fleshing out the reality of Jesus and MAKING IT HAPPEN!  I love it when the Church is so captured by Jesus, she can’t stand still but must act and change to make sure as many people as possible experience the love of Jesus.

With all of that being said, Awana registration is open! So click here to get your child in on another exciting year.