West Milton and CEF Team Together
Posted by Terry White on December 30, 2006
This article from yesterday’s West Milton (OH)Times newspaper refers to Grace Community Grace Brethren Church (Steve Peters, pastor), the sponsoring church for the Good News Club. For further background on the “chicken church” name, see the posting on this blog in archives for 13 September, 2006.
By JOYELL NEVINS
Staff Writer
The “chicken church”, a.k.a. Community Grace Brethren, has taken up residency at Milton-Union Elementary School.
Five years ago, they started holding Good News Clubs after school in the Physical Education room with the sanctioning of administration.
“The principal and administration is really supportive,” praises Jennifer Brumbaugh, Good News coordinator.
The club is a ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowships (CEF), a non-denominational, Bible-based international missions agency that reached nearly 4.9 million children in over 150 countries last year. CEF provides the curriculum for the Good News Club, and Community Grace gives the crucial financial, prayer, and work support.
The work support is extremely important. Good News started with a core group of about 25, and now can get up to 40 students at once. Brumbaugh noted that the more children come, the more volunteers they seem to get.
“God has brought a lot of workers out of the woodwork,” she smiles.
There are over 1,300 CEF school-related clubs in the United States. Milton-Union’s club is an offshoot of a CEF group in Dayton. They meet for three different six-week sessions through the year.
Children play games, sing songs, have snacks, and learn a Bible lesson.
“It’s really fun with the hand motions and songs,” shares fifth grader Amanda Black.
The activities are often related to the Bible lesson.
“It’s like miniature Vacation Bible school,” explains Brumbaugh, “They really seem to like it.”
She notes that a lot of children who come don’t attend church on Sundays, so the Good News club is able to be their “spiritual training”.
“Our main goal is to teach the children about the love of God, and the saving work of Jesus Christ, and also to provide them with strong moral training, which will hopefully steer them away from harmful influences they may face both now and in the future,” details Brumbaugh.
Parent volunteer Angie Ditmer agrees, “They’re learning something that can help them through the rest of their life.”
Volunteers also share that they have had several kids make a decision to come to Christ.
“I think it’s a good thing,” smiles Ditmer.
For information about attending or volunteering at a Good News Club, contact Jennifer at 698-3625.
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