Mission Accomplished!
I was delivering posters and pamphlets to one of our Good News Club leaders for an upcoming ministry fair in her church – the sponsoring church for the club.
When I asked her what Bible Lesson series she was going to start with in the fall she replied, “We will do the new Wordless Book series.” I’m sure she could see the surprised look on my face as I said, “Didn’t you do that just last year?”
“I like to start with the Wordless Book every fall, because that way any new boys and girls get a good foundation of the Gospel message.” Last year she built on that with the series David: A Man After God’s Own Heart in February (get it – Valentine’s Day?) to reinforce what a love-relationship with God looks like and ended the year with God’s Plan in Action: The Early Church for an example of how to live for Jesus.
That brief conversation shows me that CEF is accomplishing its mission on three fronts:
- CEF wants to partner with churches to train in child evangelism so they can reach out to families in their community. Here on the Peninsula we have in-person training twice a year – once in the fall and again in the spring. CEF Intl. also has an abundance of online child ministry training available to anyone who is passionate about reaching children.
- The teaching materials that CEF produces are gospel-centric. Each lesson, song, memory verse teaching has both a growth message for children who already believe in Jesus, and a gospel message for children who will trust Him in God’s perfect timing. CEF is committed to equip volunteers with everything they need to engage children with the Gospel and to disciple them in God’s Word.
- The Local CEF staff is always available to support the troops on the ground, the GNC volunteers. We are available to answer questions, visit clubs and give input, discuss ways to solve discipline problems. We want to mentor our volunteers who will, in turn, enable someone else to reach more children.
The result: trained Good News Club teams use the CEF curriculum to go into elementary schools to reach children who otherwise would not hear about God, Jesus and the Bible.
Kevin Mooers, our Local Committee Chair for CEF of Peninsula, tells the story that when he was in the middle of teaching a Bible Lesson and mentioned God, a young boy spoke up asking, “Who is God, anyway?” Yes, there are children who do not have the first inkling who our Awesome God is!
Kevin proceeded to tell him who God is through the Wordless Book teaching points for the Gold Page.
- God is the Creator.
- God loves you.
- God is Holy (perfect).
- God has made a perfect place in heaven for you. How wonderful is that?
As I write this, I look forward to our fall training tomorrow, Saturday 7 Sept. which will take place despite Hurricane Dorian. The storm is weakening, so we did not have to reschedule.
God is strong. He has blessed the ministry of CEF to children around the world for 82 years.
Good News Club teams are gearing up now to go into the schools again starting in October. Won’t you please pray for them, give sacrificially to your Local Chapter so we can train more teams, or volunteer in the GNC at the school nearest you?
Written by Martha Clouse, GNC Area Coordinator, Williamsburg
