Contact: Melody Bentley, 571-274-6058

SERRA NEGRA, Brazil, Sept. 30, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Child Evangelism Fellowship, the largest Christian ministry to children in the world, celebrated the 70th anniversary of its ministry in Brazil, August 1-5, 2011. According to Mr. Reese Kauffman, President of CEF, over 1,000 people were in attendance for the celebration in Serra Negra, a city in the state of Sao Paulo, including guests from Angola, Mozambique, South Korea, several countries of Latin America, and the United States.

CEF of Brazil began with two British missionaries, Rev. and Mrs. Harry Briault, who were already serving in Brazil for another mission board. When CEF founder, Mr. J. Irvin Overholtzer, visited them on his 1940 tour of South America to share his ideas for spreading the gospel to children, they were so impressed with his approach that they asked to become CEF directors for the vast South American country. Not only were they the first CEF missionaries to Brazil, they were the very first overseas missionaries for CEF, which is headquartered in the Warrenton, Missouri and now has a presence in 176 countries.

Today, CEF of Brazil reaches over 900,000 children per year which is slightly more than the number of children CEF reaches in the United States. Of that number, over 420,000 children are enrolled in Good News Clubs throughout Brazil. Good News Clubs are evangelistic clubs that meet after school, often in the public schools. For over 40 years, at the request of the Sao Paulo government, CEF has trained many of the teachers who provide the religious instruction once a week in public schools in that state. The state of Sao Paulo has a population of over 40 million people.

Looking to the future, CEF of Brazil would like to reach the indigenous ethnic groups, establish a presence in 20 new cities, recruit new workers and form a strong network of supporters and volunteers. Beyond its borders, CEF of Brazil would like to continue its mission to share the gospel with children in Portuguese-speaking countries around the world. It already has planted a CEF presence in Angola and Mozambique; as noted above, both of these countries had CEF representatives at the anniversary celebration. "CEF of Brazil is a perfect model of missions," said Mr. Kauffman. "The work was started by missionaries, it became indigenous and self-sustaining, and now it is outwardly focused on Portuguese-speaking Africa and beyond."