Contact: Melody Bentley, 703-359-8996

MEDIA ADVISORY, March 2, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Would you be willing to sleep on an air mattress in a school for a week in order to spread the gospel to children? What if you also had to take your showers in a disaster relief trailer? And what if you had to pay six hundred dollars plus travel expenses for this privilege? Such is the dedication of the volunteers for Child Evangelism Fellowship, the largest Christian ministry to children in the world. These volunteers are participating in the CEF campaign called, Good News Across America. This annual campaign, begun in 2008, targets one city each summer, for one week. During that time 150-200 CEF volunteers from all over the country come to the city to train as many as 30 churches to evangelize children. "Many churches need this program because their traditional method for evangelizing unchurched children, the Vacation Bible School, has been in decline," said Mr. John Luck, the Project Manager for Good News Across America. "Instead of reaching children who do not know the gospel, VBS attendees are primarily children who already attend the host church or another church. Sometimes these children's parents are simply using VBS as childcare. We want to help churches find those children and their families who have not heard the gospel. And CEF is able to do this at no cost to the churches involved in the campaign."

CEF has developed a successful two phase evangelistic program which its volunteers help churches implement during the week of the campaign. The first phase is the 5-Day Club. Each of the 30 churches is asked to sponsor three of these clubs for a total of 90 clubs for the week. Rather than having the children come to the churches as one does with VBS, the churches bring the clubs to the children. Depending on the community, clubs might be held in community centers or parks, on playgrounds or at apartment complexes. These clubs offer children engaging Bible lessons, songs, and games designed to encourage relationship building among the children, with church members, and especially with God. The clubs culminate on Friday evening with rallies at the sponsoring churches for the children and their families.

The second phase of Good News Across America involves the establishment of Good News Clubs. CEF volunteers train church members to run these clubs which meet once a week after school, in local public schools. Like the 5-Day Clubs, these clubs offer a good mix of fun with exciting Bible lessons. The children who attended the 5-Day Clubs during the summer are invited to attend the Good News Clubs during the school year. In this way, churches are able to maintain their commitment to these children.

CEF also helps churches find other ways to demonstrate commitment to the families of these children. Inviting them to church activities is key. A moms' morning out, a volleyball tournament or a family film night may be of interest to these families. "It is important to think about this from the perspective of the new family," Mr. Luck explained. "Sometimes attending a church service is too much at first."

Good News Across America is currently in its fourth year. The campaign began in Chicago in 2008, followed by Little Rock in 2009, and by Boston in 2010. In each of these cities between 2000 and 2400 children attended 5-Day Clubs. Such results are indeed impressive. As Ruth Pellegrini of Laughlin Church, in Chicago, said, "It puts a surge of hope into everybody and CEF did that." This year the campaign will continue in Salt Lake City. Next year it is on to Washington, D.C., followed by Minneapolis-St. Paul in 2013.