CHILD EVANGELISM FELLOWSHIP OF IRELAND. newsletter WINTER w w w.cefireland.com. Year of

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1 CHILD EVANGELISM FELLOWSHIP OF IRELAND newsletter WINTER 2018 w w w.cefireland.com Year of PR 2019 YER

2 Then He said to His disciples, The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Matthew 9:37-38 The verses opposite are so well known in Christian circles and I am sure you have read them many times, but for us at this juncture in CEF Ireland history they are a reality and a necessity. We in CEF leadership, Board of Trustees and workers present these verses on this occasion and plead with you to take them to heart and to focus your prayers for the ministry of CEF on them. They are so applicable to the needs we currently have. Notice the verse starts with the word then'. It links the verses quoted to what had happened previously and if you read those verses you will see that Jesus had compassion on the crowds, He was seeing them as sheep without a shepherd. Would Jesus say the same about the towns and villages of Ireland? Are they any different today? Go off the main routes and drive through the towns, villages and housing estates and you will clearly see the desperate need. There are thousands upon thousands of children without a shepherd, 18 counties in the Republic of Ireland with no CEF worker, and two areas in Northern Ireland with no CEF worker. Yes others are labouring and we thank God for them, but we are seeking people to become workers with CEF in these counties. Every new CEF worker represents hundreds, and most likely thousands, more children hearing the Gospel. Please notice to whom Jesus addresses His remarks. His disciples! You and I are His disciples today. The harvest is still there, but sadly the workers are still few! What is the answer to the problem? Jesus provides the answer. Pray, but not just pray, He emphasises we need to pray earnestly. To whom do we pray? The Lord of the harvest. What do we pray for? For labourers to go into the harvest. You do not have to be a theologian to understand these two verses, but you do have to be committed to put them into practice and to pray earnestly. Will you, as you read this, take up the challenge of praying earnestly for labourers to fulfil the command of Jesus to Go into all the world? Could you be the answer to the prayer? With all of the above in mind we, in CEF of Ireland, are launching a calendar year of prayer from January We will be providing various means and methods of helping you to pray for CEF. We will seek to inspire you to pray and excite you with news of answered prayers. God willing there will be news of children coming to faith in Jesus Christ. We need you to pray like it all depends on you and trust like it all depends on Him. Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! John 4:35 (National Directors)

3 IN THIS ISSUE: IN THIS ISSUE: Beginnings of CEF in Ireland...3 Sowing the Truth...5 CEF in South Korea...6 Thanksgiving for Kilchzimmer...7 Life in National Office...9 Prayer is Where the Action is...10 Building Relationships...11 A New Good News Club...12 Training Others...12 Good News Across Romania...13 Building Websites...14 Family News...15 Note from Finance...15 Diary dates 2nd January National Office reopens after Christmas holidays. 11th March National Office closed for workers CPD day. 17th 23rd March Spring Week of Prayer info@cefireland.com Child Evangelism Fellowship of Ireland is a charity, registered with The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland NIC Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

4 beginnings of CEF in Ireland Sam and Sadie Doherty founders of CEF in Ireland Praise God for His faithfulness to CEF throughout the years. God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 1 Corinthians 1:27b God blesses and uses simple, ordinary people to accomplish His purposes. Therefore He chose simple, ordinary people to start and develop the work of CEF in Ireland. That work began in early 1950 when He called a young couple who had been saved from a non-evangelical background a few months earlier, with no training or experience of any kind in Christian work, and gave them a burden for, and a call to, the children of Ireland. Sadie and I were that couple and we were soon joined by other simple, ordinary people who had the same burden and call. We started the first Good News Club in our home. The children who came probably knew more about the Bible than we did. More clubs were started by inexperienced people like ourselves. The leadership of CEF heard about what was happening and appointed Sadie and me as National Directors of CEF of Ireland! (That would be our ministry for the following 14 years.) God blessed the work and it grew strongly right through the 50s and early 60s, and many thousands of children were reached with the Gospel. Over 100 Good News Clubs were operating by the early 60s; hundreds of weekly open air meetings were taking place all over the country with often 100 or 200 or more children in attendance; many Holiday Bible Clubs were conducted; 3

5 seven teams of workers organised and led many children s missions, and an extensive programme of weekly and monthly training classes took place in a number of centres. But all this ministry was carried on by simple, ordinary people who learned as we went along. We were a self financed layman s organisation. None of us were full-time, and that included the 11 local workers and the National Director (I continued to be a teacher). We all had our regular jobs from which we financed ourselves. The first full-time workers were appointed in the late 50s to work in the office and promote the work. We were all simple, ordinary people but we were serving a mighty, powerful Lord and it was He who blessed and expanded the work, and, by doing so, brought glory to His Name. I am writing these few words, firstly, to give honour to those hundreds of devoted teachers and committee members who invested their time and strength in the ministry of CEF in Ireland in those early years. Many of them are now in Glory. It was not always easy. The work was new, the methods were quite revolutionary, and not everyone approved; but they persevered and laid a good foundation upon which the future work of CEF in Ireland could be built. Secondly, I trust that what I have written will encourage some simple, ordinary person like ourselves who is praying about the call he/she has received from God to reach the children. Obey Him; He will bless you and meet all your needs just as He did for all those simple, ordinary people back in the 50s and 60s. Our home where the first Good News Club in Ireland was held in 1950 First Irish CEF Conference Doherty Family 1962 Sam and Fred Orr Retirement Service 2007 Sam and Sadie Doherty 4

6 Sowing the Truth Jennifer McNeill North West Ulster The Lord has made known His salvation; Psalm 98:2 A s I look back over the summer ministry, especially our camps, I rejoice that the Lord made known His salvation among the young people and children. Sometimes He makes it known right there and then; sometimes He makes us wait, which makes it all the sweeter. A good while after camp I received a message from the wife of a local minister in our area. A young girl from their church had told them she had trusted Christ at our Junior camp, unknown to us. I was so thrilled to hear this news! Then just a few Sundays ago I received another message inviting me to come along to their Sunday morning service as Jodie was going to give her testimony in front of the whole church! What a privilege to sit there and hear this young girl share about how she had gone away by herself after Bible time and she had trusted Jesus to forgive her sin. The minister then asked her what difference it had made to her life now. She answered, It makes me feel so happy and whenever I struggle with my schoolwork all I have to do is to pray to Him and He will help me. What an encouragement for us to keep on faithfully sowing the truth of the Gospel into children s lives. We just never know what the Holy Spirit will do with it! Please pray for the young people and children who trusted the Lord at camp. Pray that they would continue to grow in their faith and that we will have more opportunities to disciple them and to invest in their lives. 5

7 Please pray for our CEF ministry in South Korea and also for the country of North Korea. CEF in South Korea Samuel Seo National Director CEF Korea God has blessed CEF Korea in many ways, even though Korea is a small country in the Far East Asia area. CEF ministry began in 1957 through the US missionary, Miss Eleanor Lunceford. She served the Lord as a missionary for two years in Korea. Following her return to US a new missionary family, Rev. John and Lois Cook arrived in Korea in They started a Good News Club in their home in 1960 and a LTI (Leadership Training Institute) with 12 students in The ministry of CEF Korea developed rapidly. We have 217 full-time staff workers in 53 local areas and 712 Board and Committee members in South Korea. We are reaching 300,000 children per year. We have GNC teacher training seminars every week during GNC season in all of our local areas. Many GNC teachers are supporting our ministry financially and as volunteers. We have also sent 63 missionaries to 27 countries, reaching large numbers of children. Two of those missionaries are serving the Lord as Regional Directors for the Middle East and Asia Pacific Region. We are praying and preparing for North Korea to begin CEF ministry soon. Our 53 local areas adopted 31 major cities in North Korea, and we made the decision to pray, raise finance and support a worker to build up the CEF ministry in North Korea when the door opens. We organise Sunday School for refugee children each week; we send out Gospel balloons from May to August when the wind blows from south to north; we broadcast a GNC program and teacher training program to North Korea via radio. CEF Korea Missionaries John and Lois Cook National Board Members Weekly GNC Teacher Training 6

8 Roy and Ruth Harrison Area Directors - North West Europe I n 1971 CEF Europe purchased a property in the Jura mountains in Switzerland. Over the years Kilchzimmer has been the administrative headquarters, home base for workers, training and literature centre for the work among the children across our continent. Hundreds of nationals and missionaries have been trained in the three-month Children s Ministry Leadership Courses at Kilchzimmer - in English, French, German, Danish, Italian and Spanish; The Literature and Printing Departments have equipped children s workers throughout Europe with teaching materials, training manuals, Gospel booklets and tracts for children; Staff at Kilchzimmer have provided leadership and practical help to Country Leaders, National Boards and local CEF workers in 48 European countries; The Education Department has developed and organised courses for Instructors of Teachers, as well as ministries for training children s workers and Junior Youth Challenge leaders; Each year approx. 800,000 children are being taught the Gospel through direct CEF ministries by 600 full-time workers and thousands of volunteers. The ministry of the Centre is being decentralised; Area Directors are in place for four parts of Europe. The decision was made to sell Kilchzimmer and to relocate elsewhere. About 150 CEF workers and friends from 21 countries attended a special Thanksgiving Service on 22nd September - an opportunity to acknowledge God s faithfulness and blessing over the past 47 years. Thank you for your prayers and support for the ministry at Kilchzimmer and the ongoing work among the children across Europe. "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen." (Romans 11:36). Please pray for Roy and Ruth, as they retire at the end of this year, after 52 years of full-time missionary service with CEF. 7

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10 Life in National Office Andrew McNabb Office Manager and Ministry Development It often makes for an interesting conversation, explaining to someone for the first time that I work for a children s mission but don t ever see any children during my working hours. Furthermore, for most of the 13-strong team in our National Office, our day-today work doesn t produce stories about children listening to a Bible lesson for the first time, or a new JYC starting in a difficult area. Our stories tend to involve too many phones ringing or photocopiers not doing what we want them to do! Yet the CEF vision of Every Child, Every County, Every Day is still close to our hearts, and even though we don t often see the children, we pray that our work will be used to accomplish great things for God s Kingdom. The phone calls, the endless paperwork and the long meetings all serve a greater purpose to reach the children of this island. We love being a small part of God s big plan. The roles in National Office are considerably varied. We produce, sell and distribute our resources here. Many administrative tasks in areas such as finance and safeguarding happen here. New ideas and plans are often first discussed here, and because a number of our Ministry Departments are led from National Office, Departments are easily able to collaborate on projects. You never know what each new day will bring! It s a real joy to be able to lead the team in National Office. Although we all have different personalities, interests and gifts, we are gathered round a single vision. Ultimately, no one in the office serves me our time and energy is offered to Christ, the only One who can take our work and use it in the salvation of boys and girls. 9 Please pray for the team in National Office, especially as administration and preparation for summer ministry begins.

11 Prayer is where the action is... Pray for Stan and Denise as they seek to envision believers about the spiritual needs of the boys and girls. Stan and Denise Beamish Regional Directors South West Ireland We have been serving the Lord in Co Cork with CEF for over 25 years and have been blessed to see Him work in so many young people s lives! Children whom we taught in schools and who have attended camps, are now setting up Christian homes and are actively involved in ministry in colleges, local churches and in mission. It has been, and is, a privilege to witness this! During our camp ministry this summer, as we worked with young people from different areas with various needs and facing difficult challenges, one question kept popping into my mind, What can we do now? It s a tough question as some of them have little or no support and live distances from major towns. 'D' from school was saved during camp in He then moved to an area 55 miles away, so we don t have him in school anymore. Thankfully, even though there is no other Christian link at home, he was able to come back to camp this past summer. His younger brother came and was saved too! What can we do now? We may not have much direct contact with children like 'D' but we can pray! Prayer is where the action is, John Wesley quoted. As we look to the target counties of Louth, Kildare, Kilkenny, Waterford, Limerick and Roscommon, we are asking, What can we do now? First and foremost we need PRAYER and are trusting God to lead us to the right people who have a burden and a heart to discover what they can do now. We want them to see that they can reach out to the villages and towns across their county in order that children and young people will understand that it s not what they can do but that Jesus has done it all! What can you do now? Please pray! The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. James 5:16b 10

12 Building Relationships Claire Moorcroft CEF volunteer in Co Armagh W atching the children rush through the doors of my church, it struck me that Good News Club is one of my favourite ministries because week after week you get to develop relationships with them and watch them grow. One boy began to come two years ago; he was shy because of his speech impediment and often hid behind his brother. Now, he s the one who volunteers to say the memory verse and helps the younger children. I love watching him (and the others) being fed from the Bible each week and praise God wholeheartedly for who He is and what He has done. Children don t stay children for ever, and I have a real love for the JYC age group too. Although every Junior Youth Challenge group is different, ours wouldn t be your typical group. We don t follow a structured programme of songs, Bible study and prayer. Instead we count it a success when we manage to keep our young people in the room for longer than ten minutes at a time! However, they re a wonderful group who just want to be loved and accepted, so please pray for us as we show them what it means to be loved by God and accepted into His family. We ve been praying recently that they would settle down enough to listen during the Bible study. One Monday night God answered that prayer beyond what we expected. Despite the occasional giggle, they engaged with the discussion asking questions like, Why do you follow God? and, How did you become a Christian? Long may it continue! 11 Sometimes leading at JYC means going home with a heavy heart at the situations our young people go back to face. Please pray earnestly for them that they would come to know Jesus and His love for themselves.

13 A new Good News Club Declan and Amanda Curley West Belfast We feel so privileged and are delighted to be serving God in West Belfast. As it is a pioneering ministry, there are times when it seems nothing positive is happening concerning the Gospel. But we are so thankful for the two venues open to us, allowing us to hold Good News Clubs in those communities every week. We wanted to promote these clubs by meeting folks personally, so we decided to hand out 700 invitations by going door to door. We thank God for His safety and for several conversations we had when we were able to tell of God s grace and His Gospel. Recently at one of these Good News Clubs, we had just set up and were waiting for the regular kids to arrive when we heard a knocking at the window. We looked up to see a girl and boy waving in and continually calling, Can we come in? Well, in they came and joined in with the rest. When it came to the Bible lesson we were explaining that everything we tell them is from the Bible. The young girl (P7) asked, How do you know what it says in the Bible? This gave us a wonderful opportunity to show her God s Word and tell her that the Bible is a gift from God and is for everyone to read. The young girl turned to the girl beside her and asked her if she read the Bible, to which the girl replied, Yes. You could see the amazement in her eyes, perhaps realising that God wants to speak to her through His Word, and not just to specific adults. Please pray for this girl and her cousin, who happened to be there that evening (Ruth 2:3). Pray they will return to hear more about the Lord Jesus and His love for them. Pray they will invite family members and friends also. Training others Andrew and Beulah McMullan Co Monaghan We all look forward to the weekend for a break and maybe even a lie on in the morning. So, it was very encouraging for us to see children s workers from a local church in Co Monaghan give of their time to attend a Saturday morning training session. As workers this is part of our role to help train and equip others so that they can more effectively share God s Word with the children and young people. No training is complete without the standard tea/coffee and freshly baked scones! The first class focused on why we need to evangelise children. We then shared some basic training on how to teach songs and a memory verse to children. The last class focused on the teachers and the importance of having their hearts prepared so that they can effectively teach the children. We were encouraged by a gentleman afterwards who said he never would have thought to explain the memory verse that way. This is why we believe training is so important to help equip and support churches as they spread the Gospel across Co Monaghan. Please pray that we will have many more opportunities to provide training and that we will be able to hold another Teaching Children Effectively (TCE ) Level 1 course. 12

14 Good News Across Romania Claire Bain Romania Praise God for how He continues to work in the lives of boys and girls in Romania! Please pray for Good News across Romania every summer. Updates on the project are on everychildinromania.com Every summer we have a project called Good News across Romania". During 2018, we went to County Suceava. Each of the teams involved in the project taught 5-Day Clubs together with the local churches. One of my responsibilities was to keep in contact with the teams each day and then update the prayer supporters with prayer requests and answers to prayer. One volunteer wrote to me, There were lots of children at the 5-Day Club on Monday evening, but one child was causing havoc. Before long, every time someone at the front would say something, he would shout out with a comment, causing a distraction for all the other children. It seemed that nothing could stop him. "We felt like giving up! What was the point if the children couldn t hear and we couldn t teach? As a team we were united, we encouraged each other and reminded each other of the purpose before us. "On Tuesday, I needed this boy pointed out to me. He wasn t disturbing anyone, in fact he and his friends were listening carefully. Was this really the same boy? "On Wednesday, he took the front row. As I looked at his face listening attentively, I realised he had tears in his eyes. Something had touched his heart. And I believe God was answering our prayers. "I learned something. Don t judge before the time! There is always something going on in the background and it s not over, until God says it s over! 13

15 Building Websites Ruth Nelson Web Design - CEF of Europe My ministry is one of support. I use the gifts and tools which God has given me to design websites in order to develop CEF ministries. Though I work from an office here in Northern Ireland, these websites can be accessed all over Europe and beyond. One website which I have worked on is everychildineurope.com. This is a CEF project-based website which outlines the needs of different areas of the work across different countries in Europe. It gives people the opportunity to find out what is needed so they can pray or give financially. Another website is citykidsromania.ro, a resources-based website which can be used by churches in towns and cities across Romania to access ideas to reach children with the Gospel using Lego, sports or even language clubs. At present I have just completed a website detailing all the CEF courses available. It gives an outline of what is expected, the different modules and where and when they can be taken. It is hoped that one day we will be able to make parts of these courses available to take online. By making more information and resources accessible to people, the greater the chance of reaching more children with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "As each part does its own work, it helps the other parts grow" (paraphrase Ephesians 4:16). Please pray that I will have wisdom in designing websites, that they will be used for the glory of God and help many more children learn of their need of Him. 14

16 Family News We want to congratulate Heather (nee Irwin) from the National Office on her marriage to Aaron Bell in the summer and wish them every blessing as they begin their married life together. This has been a year of retirements as a number of our longest-serving missionaries have come to that stage of life. Henry and Madeline Berry and Terry and Wilma Flannigan stepped down from their ministries earlier this year and Roy and Ruth Harrison and Paul and Audrey Reid will finish their full-time work with CEF at the end of the year. We praise God for how He used each of these couples and thank Him for the many children reached and teachers trained during their long years of service. Please pray that they will all know good health as they adjust to a slightly different pace of life. Please uphold Geoff Wallace in your prayers. He was admitted to hospital for emergency surgery towards the end of September. He came through that surgery well but has had problems with infections. Pray that the wounds would heal well and that he will regain some strength. Please remember Karen and the family too. Note from Finance You may be aware that we were without a Finance Administrator for a number of months and are very thankful to have appointed two new members of staff in the Finance Department. They are working tirelessly to clear the backlog of work created as a result of the vacancy, however it has meant a delay in workers receiving their monthly financial statements and as such they may be unaware of gifts that have been sent to the National Office for their support. Please accept our apologies if you have sent a gift and as yet have not received any acknowledgement from the worker. The situation is well on the way to being resolved and workers will be in touch with you as soon as they receive their statements. We are thankful for your continued prayerful and financial support and trust that God will bless you as you share with us in reaching the boys and girls. CEF of Ireland Easter Conference Portrush Presbyterian Church // April 2019 CEF of Ireland 199 Templemore Avenue Belfast BT5 4FR Tel: Tamarisk Way Kilnamanagh Dublin 24 Tel: National Directors: Mr & Mrs David Edwards CEF National Office 199 Templemore Avenue Belfast BT5 4FR Chairman: Mr Mark Conroy 12 Causeway End Road Lisburn BT28 1UB Hon. Treasurer: Miss Jean Porte 7 Milebush Cottages Carrickfergus BT38 7QH You receive the National Newsletter because you are on a mailing list for this publication. If you would like to a) change any of your details (such as address), b) change how you receive this ( or post) or c) stop receiving this, please contact your local CEF worker or our National Office. For further information on how we use your information, please visit