‘These stories we hear are amazing testimonies, but they are not uncommon. CEF’s booklets are affecting children, their parents and entire families all over the world,’ said CEF Acting Vice President of Administration Fred Pry
For Immediate Release
June 17, 2024
ST. LOUIS — Christian books are of little use for children if they cannot understand them.
That’s why Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) has published literature especially designed to reach young minds around the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ on a level they can comprehend.
“CEF distributed literature to 2,334,752 children around the world during 2023 who did not necessarily have face-to-face contact with CEF staff members,” said Child Evangelism Fellowship Acting Vice President of Administration Fred Pry. “This includes, ‘Do You Wonder Why?’ ‘The Wonder Devotional Books,’ and other CEF materials.”
Another 1,703,380 interacted with digital content on U-Nite and other platforms.
CEF’s “Do You Wonder Why?” has been translated into 19 different languages. This short booklet begins to answer questions that are on everyone’s minds: Why do so many bad things happen in the world? Why did God allow this to happen? How can I get through this terrible time?
CEF has distributed millions of copies of the booklet, which was created just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to respond to the grief that children were wrestling with. The booklet explains the role of sin, the fact that we can’t always know why bad things happen, our need for salvation and the good news that, no matter what, Jesus will never leave us when we accept Him as our Savior. In each booklet, which is also available in video form, in print and online in several languages at https://www.cefonline.com/why, the Gospel is clearly explained. In the book, children can write their names and the date on which they became “part of God’s family.”
CEF has impacted many children with this booklet. In August 2023, for example, CEF delivered copies to children affected by the Maui, Hawaii wildfire. After an earthquake devastated southern and central Turkey in 2023, CEF quickly distributed the booklets to the stricken areas. Personal testimonies illustrate the impact.
“When the earthquake happened, I thought God had lost control of the earth,” Ali said. “But when I read this book, I knew the truth — that God still controls everything.”
Ahmed said, “I had a terrible fear when the earthquake occurred, and the walls of our house cracked. Reading this booklet made me feel calm and helped me trust God to protect me.”
CEF’s Wonder Devotional Books
The Wonder Devotional Books were designed to help children develop a lifelong habit of enjoying God’s Word and applying it to their lives. CEF’s Good News Club® includes a Wonder Time segment in which children are encouraged to spend time with God each day. Each Wonder Devotional Book contains 60 devotions and six books to cover a full year.
A Good News Club® teacher in El Salvador, Andrea Sarai Mejia, had this to say:
“Six-year-old Valeria faithfully attends Good News Club®. It is where she received the Lord Jesus as her Savior and learned how to depend on Him every day. When Valeria learned about prayer, she prayed often for her family and shared prayer requests: that her father would get out of jail; that her grandmothers, Maria and Conchi, would be healed; and that her mother would receive the Lord Jesus as her Savior.
“On weekends, Valeria and her sister stay at her Grandmother Maria’s house. She takes Valeria to Good News Club® each Saturday. Last year, Maria herself accepted the Lord Jesus as her Savior, thanks to the testimony of her young granddaughter. ‘I have learned to have a devotional life, thanks to my granddaughter,’ Maria shared.”
“The Gospel changes lives,” said Pry. “These stories we hear are amazing testimonies, but they are not uncommon. CEF’s booklets are affecting children, their parents and entire families all over the world.”
Child Evangelism Fellowship, which was founded 87 years ago, has been establishing the Good News Club® in countries around the world for decades. Clubs are thriving worldwide, in countries including Australia, Cambodia, Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Uganda and many more.
In 2023, through CEF’s combined ministries, more than 25.2 million children worldwide heard the Good News. More than 577,000 teachers were trained around the world.
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 Bogucki, 610.584.1096, ext. 105, or Daniel Moyer, ext. 104.