Contact: Melody Bentley, 571-274-6058, volunteer@cefonline.com; Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF)
WARRENTON, Mo., Nov. 3, 2012 /
Christian Newswire/ --
Volunteers are essential to the success of many ministries and nowhere is that more evident than at Child Evangelism Fellowship, the largest ministry to children in the world. Volunteers have topped an impressive one million hours since 1998, at CEF headquarters in Warrenton, Missouri. "Last year alone 695 volunteers gave their time at our headquarters and their service is crucial to our mission to share the gospel with children all over the world," said Mr. Steve Johnson, director of Volunteer Services for CEF. Last year, CEF reached 12.1 million children around the world.
Anyone over the age of thirteen may serve at CEF headquarters where volunteers are referred to as "volunteer missionaries" because they are giving their time in service to the gospel mission. Some serve for a day, many serve for months but most serve for one to two weeks, the typical length of most mission trips organized in the United States. The campus of CEF headquarters is well-equipped to handle its volunteers. With a lodge, an RV park and a full service cafeteria open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, CEF offers housing and meals to its volunteer missionaries who are asked to pay ten dollars per day to offset the cost.
Many church groups organize mission trips for the purpose of volunteering at CEF headquarters and many students from around the world attending the Christian Ministries Institute at CEF headquarters will stay on for a time to serve as volunteer missionaries. However, the vast majority of volunteers are retirees. Mr. Johnson explains, "Many retirees want to perform missionary work but not every ministry has work that they can do. At CEF headquarters we have volunteer work that is ideally suited to a retiree, especially in our Discipleship Center." The Discipleship Center does much of the work for the Truth Chasers Club, the popular Bible club through the mail that CEF sponsors. Last year over 539 volunteer missionaries, almost all of them retirees, performed data entry, graded lessons, and processed mail for the club. "We could not run the club without them," said Mr. Johnson.
In addition to the Discipleship Center, volunteer missionaries serve by maintaining the buildings and grounds, preparing meals in the cafeteria, supporting literature production with CEF Press, and preparing boxes of teaching materials for shipment around the world for the Boxes of Books program. From time to time, assistance is needed for projects in the IT department and the International and USA Ministries departments. "We really appreciate the people who are willing to serve CEF and we want to match them with their particular interests," said Mr. Johnson.
While serving at CEF headquarters, volunteer missionaries also enjoy spiritual renewal, rich fellowship and some good fun. They attend chapel, weekly Bible studies and have time for personal devotions. On Monday nights there is a music program; there are game nights and an activity room in the lodge.
Volunteer missionaries are welcome to serve at CEF headquarters all year round. There is a particular need in January and February, according to Mr. Johnson. Anyone who is interested in volunteering at CEF headquarters should email volunteer@cefonline.com or call 1-800-300-4033 ext.1246.
