“Even so it is not the will of my Father who is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”
– Matthew 18:14
CEF was established over 80 years ago to challenge, train and equip Jesus’ Church to reach children with the gospel and provide outreach ministries in mission fields across the USA and around the world.
In 1968, the CEF Josephine District was chartered to reach local children, most who don’t attend church. About 100 volunteers from various congregations reach about 1,400 children each year in CEF Bible classes.
Good News Clubs© and Jesus Pizza Clubs are held for students of all local public elementary and middle schools. In Good News Club: members are released from school with parental permission for an hour meeting each week. Club members are taught Bible basics and evangelized, with hundreds who respond with faith in Christ. In Jesus Pizza Club, CEF teachers and helpers meet with middle-schoolers during their lunch period for a short Bible lesson, food and prayer. For decades this program has been the largest ongoing missionary outreach of the Church in Southern Oregon and the largest CEF school-based ministry in the state. Good News Club meetings are held off campus nearby in church facilities, Christian homes and CEF buses.
Thousands of Gospel treats and tracts are passed out each year to children at the Boatnik parade and on Halloween at downtown locations. Some years we also have a booth at the Josephine CO Fair and Cave Junction Rooster Crow Fair.
During the summer, CEF Oregon holds a week-long training school for teens called Christian Youth in Action©. (CYIA)
Graduates teach evangelistic clubs in local childcare facilities, help staff VBS’ at churches and in have 5 Day Clubs© in churches and backyards. The teens also share the Gospel at local fairs, and help staff VBS/Day Camp Good News© the last week in July.
For follow-up, CEF encourages staff volunteers to invite reached children to their congregations. Another resource available is the Mailbox Club, a free Bible correspondence course.
Contact Us if you would like to receive these mailbox club lessons in the mail, anyone from five years old all the way up to adult can sign up!
All this is possible as God moves members of His body to serve Him, ministering to the children with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
CEF Josephine Staff:
Local Director: Averill Harp
Averill started volunteering in Good News Clubs in 2007. She fell in love with ministering to the kids at Good News Club and quickly went from helper to teacher and then supervising multiple clubs. She began employment as CEF Josephine’s first Administrative and Ministry Assistant in 2012 and also taught demos on a regular basis for weekly Teacher Training classes.
When COVID hit and Director Jim Cunningham retired, Averill had been interning for him for 8 years. The local committee hired her as Local Coordinator in 2020 and she moved up to Director in June of 2022. Ministry had been a challenge since COVID shut so much down but Averill felt Mark 16:15 never stopped being a command to believers, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Administrative Assistant: Megan Harp
Megan had been volunteering in three Good News Clubs in her spare time for over ten years but was hired as the Administrative Assistant for CEF September 1st, 2020. She is a helper at three Good News Clubs during the school year (and on-call as a sub), runs registration and snacks during VBS Day Camp, maintains the website and usually will be the one answering the phone if you call the office. She loves her job and thanks God every day for being able to be paid to spread the gospel to children!
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:11-13
Ministry Assistant: Josh Kuhl
Josh has been involved with CEF since he was 14. He first got involved when he attended Christian Youth In Action (CYIA), our summer training program for teens. Josh went through 5 years of CYIA growing in his relationship with Christ and following His direction. After he finished his 5 years of CYIA and graduated from the program, he took an internship in CEF Jackson where he decided he wanted to be employed by CEF. He was soon after employed here at the Josephine office in June of 2022. He has since been involved with teaching Jesus Pizza Club, Good News Club, 5 Day Clubs, Camp Good News and mentoring teens in sharing the gospel.
1 Thessalonians 2:4 – But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.
Ministry Intern: Daniella White
My name is Daniella White. I am an intern with CEF Josephine. I started my internship in 2023 and have been working with CEF for about a year. I first got involved with CEF through CYIA. All of my siblings went to CYIA, so when I got old enough, I was eager to follow in their footsteps and experience this super cool camp for myself. CYIA pushed me far outside my comfort zone, but has definitely given me more confidence both in myself and in God. CYIA has helped me have a greater understanding of God, and through it, I have gained a stronger relationship with Him. I have now gone to CYIA for 5 years and plan to return this year as studaff (part student, part staff). Because of how much I love CYIA, I was interested in knowing more about what it would look like to work with CEF. I was able to shadow Josh for a few days, and a little later, Averill offered me the position as an intern with CEF Josephine. Now I am helping with three different good news clubs. I love teaching the kids and I feel so blessed to be a part of CEF and to see the work that God is doing through this amazing organization!
“How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in Him should ponder them. Everything he does reveals His glory and majesty.” Psalms 111:2-3
CEF Josephine Committee:
Child Evangelism Fellowship Statement of Faith
WE BELIEVE
1. That “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” by which we understand the whole book called THE BIBLE; that it is inerrant in the original writing and that its teaching and authority are absolute, supreme and final. That the Holy Spirit guided the holy men of old in all that they wrote. 2 Timothy 3:16; Deuteronomy 4:2; 2 Peter 1:21.
2. The Godhead eternally exists in three persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, having the same nature, attributes and perfection. Romans 1:20; Matthew 28:19; Deuteronomy 4:35; John 17:5.
3. In the Personality and Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, begotten of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, truly God and truly man. John 1:1,14; John 10:30; Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:30-31; Philippians 2:5-7; 1 Timothy 3:16; Colossians 1:19.
4. In the Personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit, the source and power of all acceptable worship and service, the infallible interpreter of the infallible Word, who indwells every true believer, and is ever present to testify of Christ, seeking to occupy us with Him and not with ourselves or our experiences. John 15:26; Acts 5:3, 4; Acts 1:8; Romans 8:26, 27; 1 Corinthians 2:12, 14; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 12:13; John 16:13, 14.
5. That man was created in the image of God, after His likeness, as stated in the Word of God, but the whole human race fell in the fall of the first Adam. Not only was his moral nature grievously injured by the fall but he totally lost all spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins, and subject to the power of the devil. “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7, 8). Therefore, he cannot see nor enter the kingdom of God until he is born again by the Holy Spirit. That no degree of reformation however great, no attainment in morality however high, no culture however attractive, no humanitarian and philanthropic schemes and societies however useful, no baptism or other ordinance however administered, can help the sinner take even one step toward Heaven; but a new nature imparted from above, a new life implanted by the Holy Spirit through the Word is absolutely essential to salvation. Genesis 1:26, 27; Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3; John 3:3, 6, 7; Titus 3:5.
6. That Jesus Christ became the sinner’s substitute before God, and died as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. That He was made a curse for the sinner, dying for his sins according to the Scriptures, that no repentance, no feeling, no faith, no good resolutions, no sincere efforts, no submission to the rules and regulations of any church can add in the very least to the value of the precious blood or to the merit of that finished work wrought for us by Him, who tasted death for every man. 1 John 2:2; Hebrews 2:9; Galatians 3:13; Romans 3:25; Romans 4:4-5; Romans 5:8; Colossians 1:13, 14, 20, 21.
7. In the resurrection of the crucified body of Jesus Christ; that His body was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures, and that He ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God as the believer’s high priest and advocate. Luke 24:39; Acts 1:10-11; Ephesians 4:10; Hebrews 1:3; 1 John 2:1.
8. That Christ in the fullness of the blessings He has secured by His death and resurrection is received by faith alone and that the moment we trust Him as our Savior we pass out of death into everlasting life, justified from all things, accepted before the Father according to the measure of His acceptance, loved as He is loved and made one with Him. At the time of acceptance of Christ as Savior, He comes to dwell within the believer and to live out His life of holiness and power through him. Hebrews 9:15; John 5:24; Romans 3:28; Romans 4:3, 23-25; Ephesians 1:3; John 17:23; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 4:6-7; Galatians 5:16; Acts 1:8.
9. That the Church is composed of all those who truly believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. It is the body and the bride of Christ. That every believer, whether Jew or Gentile, is baptized into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, and having thus become members of one another we are responsible to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, rising above all sectarian prejudices and denominational bigotry and loving one another with a pure heart fervently. Ephesians 1:22, 23; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Corinthians 12:22-27; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; Romans 12:4, 5; Ephesians 4:3-6; Ephesians 5:32; Philippians 2:1-5; Galatians 5:13-15.
10. That all believers in our Lord Jesus are called into a life of separation from worldly and sinful practices and should abstain from such amusements and habits as will cause others to stumble, or bring reproach upon the cross of Christ. Believers are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). 1 John 2:15, 16; Romans 13:14; Romans 14:13; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Ephesians 2:10.
11. In the evangelization of the world; that the supreme mission of the people of God in this age is to preach the Gospel to every creature. That special emphasis should be placed upon the evangelization of children. Mark 16:15; 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19; Matthew 18:14.
12. In the personal return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; that the coming again of Jesus Christ is the “Blessed Hope” set before us, for which we should be constantly looking. Our citizenship is in Heaven from whence we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20). Acts 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17; John 14:1-3; Titus 2:13; Philippians 3:20, 21.
13. That the souls of those who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence, and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when soul and body re-united shall be with Him forever in glory. Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Luke 16:22, 25; Philippians 1:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18.
14. That the souls of the lost remain after death in misery until the final judgment of the great white throne, when soul and body reunited at the resurrection shall be cast “Into the lake of fire” which is “the second death,” to be “punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8, 9). Luke 16:22-23, 27-28; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 20:5, 11-15; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9.
15. In the reality and personality of Satan, “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” (Revelation 12:9) Ephesians 6:11, 12; 1 Peter 5:8; Revelation 20:10.