Engaging Christian Youth This Summer
What is the best way to engage teens for Christ? Must the activity be mostly fun/high-action to compete with video games in capturing their attention? Perhaps a better strategy is to actually challenge our teens to be missionaries NOW, giving them a purpose and place to shine for Jesus.
Every June, Child Evangelism Fellowship® (CEF®) conducts its Christian Youth in Action® (CYIA®) camp. The camp focuses on training high school and college students to minister to children and conduct 5-Day Club®s for children during the summer.
This year our Virginia CYIA camp will be held from
June 16th – 22nd at Eagle Eyrie Baptist Conference Center in Lynchburg, Virginia.
There is plenty of room at Eyrie for training, dining, sleeping and recreation. The days are long with a schedule ranging from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the main focus on worship and training, but there will be breaks during the day for study and recreation time. Recreational opportunities include swimming pool, hiking trails, disc golf course, indoor game room, basketball, volleyball, and gift shop, to name a few. More information on Eyrie can be found at http://eagleeyrie.org/.
The teens will learn to present the Gospel clearly on a child’s level, counsel a child for salvation and lead energetic and engaging 5-Day Clubs for children in homes, civic centers, apartment buildings, parks, and neighborhoods. The clubs go to the children, where they hang out.
The curriculum for CYIA and the 5-Day Clubs will be Jesus: My Savior and Friend, which includes Bible stories, songs, Scripture memorization, review game, and much more. Hudson Taylor will be the missionary lesson this summer along with supporting Jamaica CEF ministries.
My wife and I will be going to Kingston Jamaica again this summer. Last year we were part of a team that taught CYIA while CEF of Jamaica staff watched. This year, we are going to observe CEF of Jamaica staff teach CYIA. My friend, Robert Levy from Jamaica, told me that Jamaica has a larger number of Olympic medals per capita than any other country in the world. Robert said that he wants Jamaica to also have a larger number of GNCs per capita than any other country. Robert is the largest donor to CEF of Jamaica.
The goal of CEF of VA is to find underwriters to pay the entire cost of the CYIA camp. Then, the teens will still raise money for the camp, but they will be paid a stipend for their 5-Day Club work that follows, just like real missionaries do it. We feel this will encourage teens to come to camp, rather than seek other summer-time employment. This concept may not be fully in place this year, but if God wants it done this year it will happen. If you wish to become an underwriter for CYIA, go to the state’s Go Fund Me page at https://www.gofundme.com/cef-of-virginia-christian-youth-in-action-camp?
Soli Deo Gloria,
Kevin Mooers
CEFP Committee Chairman
