‘We can’t tell you how many times we have heard that kids who attended our Good News Clubs® brought Jesus home to their parents, who then got saved,’ says Child Evangelism Fellowship Executive Vice President Moises Esteves
For Immediate Release
October 23, 2023
ST. LOUIS — Children’s ministries are important in their own right, as a Barna survey has verified.
In fact, “Whatever a child believes by age 13 is in most cases what he will die believing,” says George Barna. “In other words, by the age of 13, your spiritual identity is largely set in place.”
More than 30 percent of people who are saved come to Christ between the ages of five and 13, Barna found. “In the race to a child’s heart, the first one there wins,” he said.
Another outcome from ministry to children is that it can be a gateway to salvation for their parents and other family members.
“We can’t tell you how many times we have heard that kids who attended our Good News Clubs® brought Jesus home to their parents, who then got saved,” says Child Evangelism Fellowship Executive Vice President Moises Esteves. “Sometimes entire families come to the Lord because the children first heard the Word in our club.”
That was the result for the Strunk family, who live in the Greater Cincinnati area.
‘Hopeless’ Mom Comes to Christ
Robin and Ken Porter, who are with CEF of Springfield, Missouri, tell the story of how Good News Club® helped a young girl come to Christ along with her mother, who was a drug addict.
“Roxanne was a third grader that came to our club. You could tell by her appearance that she was not well cared for. Her clothes were dirty and her hair messy,” the Porters said. “When her mom, Alexis, arrived to pick her up it became apparent why. Alexis was a drug user. Her face had the gaunt, hollowed out look of a habitual drinker and drug user. Her arms showed signs of track marks.
“Many times, Alexis and Roxanne would end up on the streets because the money for rent was spent to buy drugs. Roxanne’s situation seemed hopeless.
“But it wasn’t, because in Good News Club® Roxanne accepted Christ as her Savior. Every week, we encouraged Roxanne in her faith. Every week, we worked to build a relationship with Alexis. And we prayed.
“Our pastor’s wife spent a lot of time talking with Alexis. One day we held a special, we held a special ‘parents night’ where the children could share what they had learned during the week. Alexis came. The message of the Gospel was clearly presented, and Alexis with tears streaming down her face walked the aisle and trusted in Christ as her Savior.”
“Anyone could see the change in Alexis. She cleaned up — fast. She took on two jobs to provide for Roxanne. She got into better housing in a better neighborhood providing Roxanne with a safe place to live and better schools. Alexis began to come to church regularly. She even invited some of her friends to church with her, and they too believed.”
“It was all because a little girl came to a Good News Club®, heard the Gospel, and trusted Christ as her Savior. Now her life is no longer hopeless. It is full of hope.”
Good News Club® and 5-Day Club ministries take place in neighborhood settings such as homes, backyards, schools and community centers all over the world. These fast-paced, one-hour programs are designed to bring the Gospel of Christ to children on their level in their environment — and in their own languages. In addition, CEF has numerous online resources geared to the needs of children in their own languages.
“Child Evangelism Fellowship reaches millions of children each year and parents are receiving Christ because of the transformation they see in their children,” Esteves says. “CEF constantly hears true life stories about children who learned Bible truths in our Good News Clubs and 5-Day Clubs and helped turn around their parents’ lives.”
“Every year, tens of thousands of parents are brought to faith in Christ because one of their children was so changed by his or her own relationship with the Lord that the parent could not ignore the power of Christ any longer,” Barna said.
“This is why it is so important to reach children all over the world,” Esteves says. “We want to minister annually to 100 million children globally in the near future and at least 26.5 million in 2023.”
Last year through CEF’s combined ministries, more than 19.5 million children worldwide heard the Good News. CEF is committed to reaching 15 percent more each year.
For more CEF news, see the ministry’s latest edition of the online magazine Impact.
Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) is an international, nonprofit, Christian ministry that has been dedicated to seeing every child reached with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, discipled and established in a local church since 1937. CEF is located in all 50 American states and in most countries around the world, with over 3,500 paid staff and tens of thousands of volunteers around the world.
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To interview a representative from Child Evangelism Fellowship, contact [email protected], Beth Harrison, 610.584.1096, ext. 105, or Deborah Hamilton, ext. 102.