In 2023, the Body of Christ was been given a strong challenge by Child Evangelism Fellowship–reach 100 million children with the Gospel in the next 10 to 15 years.

A year later, Moises Esteves, Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) executive vice president, shares the global organization is well on their way to reaching that goal.

When CEF introduced its “slate of ambitious goals,” it underscored the need to reach children under the age of 15 in and out of the school year. According to its news release, those core objectives included:

• Reach approximately 26.5 million children in 2023.
• Minister to 100 million children each year globally with the Gospel in the near future.
• Increase the number of Good News Clubs®, which already serve children in about 3,500 American public schools.
• Train hundreds of thousands of adults worldwide to reach more children for Christ.

The charge to reach the next generation for Christ seemed to be an internal wake-up call as well. MinistryWatch shared that Child Evangelism Fellowship saw a 29% growth in its face-to-face ministry from 2022 to 2023. In 2024, they estimate reaching another 5 to 7 million young people with every tool at their disposal.

Child Evangelism Fellowship Pioneering Efforts to Reach the Lost

Founded in 1937, CEF is now a successful network seeking to fulfill the Great Commission leveraging a multimedia outreach for children worldwide.

In 2023, their in-person ministries reached over 29 million children, exceeding their goal of 26.5 million. This year, CEF suggests they are on track to reach 30.4 million children.

“We see no reason to slow down, and every reason to expand our outreach. Souls are being won all over the world,” Esteves said. “But hundreds of millions of people have yet to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. Evangelizing children often leads to entire families and communities becoming believers.”

Keeping up the pace means CEF is searching for new opportunities to reach school-aged young people with the Gospel. Most recently, that was evident with their fight against After School Satan Clubs, a national effort from The Satanic Temple (TST).

The religious organization states its focus is to “encourage empathy and reject tyrannical authority.” That usually places anywhere Christian outlets are permitted at the center of its work, which includes multiple litigious efforts. In this case, directly against Child Evangelism Fellowship.

The Good News Club ministries are placed in grade schools, but also neighborhood community centers and even at-home groups. Beginning in 2016, TST wanted to ensure “equal representation for all religions” in public schools.

Following years of protests and lawsuits, its first clubs were in Chimneyrock Elementary School in Memphis, Tennessee, and B.M. Wiliams Primary School in Chesapeake, Virginia. That’s when CEF targeted aggressive growth of Good News Clubs nationwide.

“Although even the very presence of After School Satan Clubs shows how far America has sunk into moral relativism, these so-called clubs are not succeeding in their goal, which is to scare school authorities into banning all after-school groups so as to oust CEF’s Good News Clubs,” said Esteves in a January 2024 post.

CEF Leaves No Stone Unturned to Reach Its Goal

The organization, whose slogan is “Every child, every nation, every day” lives up to that statement by using whatever it can to reach the lost. With almost a dozen different ministries, Child Evangelism Fellowship could reach 100 million children well before its finish line of 10 to 15 years.

CEF boasts in-person ministries, including:

• Good News Club — In schools, community centers, churches, and neighborhood homes, teachers (trained by CEF) lead clubs every week nationwide
• 5-Day Club — Five consecutive days, featuring one-and-a-half-hour sessions with Bible lessons, creative learning activities, and worship
• Military Children’s Ministry — Good News Clubs held in military neighborhoods and bases
• Christmas Party Club — Singular events in community centers or churches to proselytize the holiday message

Other programs leveraged to reach their goal are:

• Camp Good News — Discipleship outreaches using CEF-owned or rented facilities
• SPAN — CEF’s exclusive Sponsor-a-National Program that benefits missionaries each month.
• Christian Youth in Action — An outreach for high school and college students teaching them to minister to children in their community

Multimedia efforts include:

• U-Nite TV streams animated adventures based on God’s Word
• U-Nite Radio alternates weekly episodes between Good News Devotionals and Heroes. They can be downloaded on Apple, Google, Amazon, and Spotify apps.

Child Evangelism Fellowship is located in 50 states and many countries around the world with translated products in 200 different languages. For more information about their 100-million-child goal, visit cefonline.com.