It all began 75 years ago
this year. Our founder, J.I. Overholtzer, read this statement by Charles
Spurgeon: “A child of five, if properly instructed, can as readily believe
and be regenerated as anyone.” Mr. O. believed that too and became burdened
for the souls of boys and girls. He would pray over the globe for children in
each country of the world. He was aware of his own limitations, so he prayed
that God would raise up an army of child evangelists that would encircle the
globe.
Today an active and
on-going ministry has been established in 180 countries. God has given
tremendous growth to the work in Europe too, but at times it seems like a drop
in the ocean - when we think of the 157 million children, most of whom have yet
to hear. Even with almost 600 full-time workers, we know that we don’t have
enough to do this alone. So we are praying and asking “…the Lord of the
harvest, … to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matt. 9:38)
As an answer to prayer
God is not only raising up full-time workers but also people like you - men and
women with a love for boys and girls and a deep desire to be involved in
bringing the Gospel to them. But we continue to ask the question, “how can we
reach even more children?” The answer is, through training!
Training
75 years since the
birth of CEF, we continue to be convinced of the importance to “properly
instruct” children from the Bible. We take this seriously and that is why in
each country we offer teacher-training programmes for volunteers and full-time
workers. Each year over 30,000 people in Europe attend one of our training
events. Some attend an evening training class for Good News Club® teachers,
or a church training day, or a 30-hour Teaching Children Effectively™ (TCE™)
course taught over several weekends. Others want to learn about working with
the older children and attend a Junior Youth Challenge (JYC) course.
The centrepiece of our
training however is our 3-month Children’s Ministry Leadership Course (CMLC).
This summer we are offering places in Kilchzimmer for English and Italian speakers,
with German in the autumn. Extension CMLCs will be held in Lithuania (with
interpretation into other Baltic languages), in Romania (with Polish
interpretation) and in Georgia.
How do teachers
benefit from CEF courses? “I had a passion to reach children but I had no
idea how to do it. This course has giving me what I needed... I’m just
buzzing... I can’t wait to get back to the mission-field” (Penny, missionary
to Ghana). – “In Sunday school I always struggled with teaching the memory
verse. I just repeated it a few times. But now I know how to really ‘teach’ it!
This is one of the first things I am going to change when I go back”(Daniel,
Germany). – “This course has equipped us and given us the confidence we need
to reach the lost children of our country” (Metush and Nora, CEF Kosovo).
Training is just the
first part of the effective and simple CEF strategy that God has blessed over
many years: Training – Equipping – Supporting!
Equipping
As soon as they have
been trained we equip them with good quality teaching materials in their own
language.
Supporting
Many of those who have
been trained and equipped desire to begin full-time ministry. But the lack of support
is often an obstacle. Therefore we support many national workers in Europe
through our newly launched SPAN (Sponsor a National) programme.
Mr O. had a burden and
a vision but he was also realistic. That is why he prayed for an army of
child evangelists that would encircle the globe. Today, trained, equipped and supported workers
not only reach children but also train other workers—who then train yet more
workers – who then reach even more children than you or I could reach in a
lifetime.
Article written for the Kilchzimmer Echo,
Spring 2012, Gary Cousins, Education Coordinator
for Western Europe
