Pros
Awana has an almost 70 year history of reaching kids with the gospel and is on mission to continue this work, despite the changing needs of the church, kids, and non profit operations. The executive leaders have made continual shifts to move closer to their mission and have microfocus on what the organization does best. Their heart to truly serve their partners and to make the culture changes needed to serve their people is evident. The organization is generous in their base salaries, PTO and workplace flexibility, including vacation time in addition to the base average 2 weeks between Christmas and new year’s and opportunities to work from home, remotely and with flexibility to meet employee needs. There are opportunities for growth internally and crossfunctional training, as well as great resources for investing in top class technology to grow the organization. There are incredible opportunities to be connected to ministry work across the US and internationally, with access to some of the most incredible ministry leaders and thought leaders globally. Despite other reviews claiming cronyism, leadership has specifically hired experts in the field to address the critical issues the organization has faced. As an employee who was closer to the leadership circle, cronyism is an unfounded accusation.
Cons
Because of the shifts needed to move the organization to stay relevant, afloat and financially stable, there have been multiple reductions in force over the past few years. However, these shifts have been necessary to keep the organization away from mission drift or closed doors like many evangelical legacy organizations have been forced to do.