Summer 2019 Newsletter

Summer 2019

Remembering Why

Why is the ministry of CEF focused on reaching children with the Good News? Why are over 130 people in Collier County volunteering to go into our public schools and tell children about Jesus? CEF and these volunteers know the truth about ministering to children, and the truth is that ministering to children is imperative to the growth and even the existence of the future Church.

Most people do not realize how important it is to reach children, but over 80% of people in the church today received Christ when they were just a child. Whenever I have a chance to speak at a church, I love asking people to raise their hands if they received the Lord before the age of 14 and I’m always astounded at how this statistic always proves true. Every time, almost the entire room will raise their hands. Someone told them about Jesus when they were a child and there they are sitting in the church today because of it. Oh, praise the Lord for Sunday School Teachers and everyone who chooses to minister to little ones!

Studies show that as someone gets older they are less likely to respond to the gospel. When witnessing to someone who is 18 or older, the probability of them accepting Christ is around 6%. But it drops even more when sharing the gospel with teens. For people who are ages 14 to 18 years old there is only a 4% likelihood that they will respond. However, when sharing Jesus with children ages of 5 to 13 there is a 32% chance that they will respond to the message and give their heart to Christ!

It’s a sad fact, but many churches focus all their attention on reaching adults and teenagers, but unintentionally treat ministry to children like a babysitting service. Research shows that the majority of churches spend less than 4% of their budget on children’s ministry. Unfortunately, they are missing the opportunity to reach the future church and I wonder if it is not the reason for this statistic: today, 80% of children in the United States do not attend a church at all! Did you hear that? 80% DO NOT GO TO CHURCH AT ALL!

My friends, if we are going to reach the next generation for Christ we must go out into our community and reach children where they are.

That’s why supporting local Good News Clubs in our schools is so important and why the ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship is so focused on reaching children! The church has an awesome opportunity and a responsibility to reach the children in our community. With God’s blessing and guidance we are expanding this ministry and reaching children that may never hear the gospel any other way! Thank you for supporting this ministry, volunteering and partnering with us to reach children. Would you consider giving financially to support our clubs that are starting this fall?

*All statistics are taken from Barna Research Inc.
Lori McGraw, Local Director

We Won't Stop

When school is out the ministry of CEF does not stop! During the summer we partner with churches to do another kind of club in our community. It is called the 5-Day Club. This program is similar to a VBS, but instead of taking place in a church, we go out into the community and reach children in neighborhoods, parks, and other public locations.

One of the best things about these clubs is that they are entirely taught by teens. Right after school is over, these young people will go to an intense training workshop for a whole week! Let me tell you, when they are done, they are prepared and equipped!

This summer we had fifteen 5-Day Clubs in our community and through those programs we were able to reach 157 children with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Every time a Bible Lesson is taught there is an invitation to accept Christ and that is just what 23 children did this summer! These teens have the privilege of bringing children into the family of God and it’s all so wonderful!

Really Good News

The really good news this year is that we are in 20 of our 36 public schools and with two other Good News Clubs in our community we had a total of 22 clubs in Collier County! That is an additional 5 Good News Clubs this year! Together we have reached over 600 children with the gospel and we’re so blessed to report that 104 of those children gave their hearts to Jesus!

The Lord is clearly working to expand the reach of this ministry. He is opening doors left and right and we are working hard just to keep up! On every side He is providing opportunities for us to go into the schools and opening the eyes of Christians to the necessity for reaching children. Some of these people volunteer to teach Good News Clubs, while others support the ministry financially. We are so thankful that we have never had to turn down a church who has wanted to start a Good News Club, despite their ability to support it financially or not. Please pray with us that this will continue to always be the case!

We are so blessed to be ministry partners with First Baptist Church of Naples. There are eleven schools with Good News Clubs because of them and together we started our very first middle school club in Collier County this year!

Covenant Church is sponsoring Good News Clubs in 5 Schools and Marco Presbyterian, New Hope Ministries, St. John’s Episcopal and Centerpoint Church are all sponsoring Good News Clubs in our schools as well. All of these churches are impacting our community for Christ and building the future church! One day the children they are winning to the Lord will be the leaders of our churches and the ones ministering to the lost in our community!