CEF & Your Church partnering to

Reach, Connect, Minister!

CEF®’s purpose and mission are to EVANGELIZE boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, DISCIPLE them in the Word of God, and ESTABLISH them in a Bible-believing church for Christian living. In partnership with your church, together we reach children and their families using the RCM method!

THE RCM METHOD:

REACH OUT: Your church, in partnership with CEF®, will faithfully pray as they REACH OUT to children in their community through a Good News Club®, a 5-Day Club®, or a Party Club®.

CONNECT WITH: Every child in every club has a family, guardians, or a home. Your church will make a commitment to pray for and to CONNECT WITH every child and their family in the club.

Ideas:

  • Team: Establish a designated point person or team to help connect children and their families to your church by hosting ongoing special events.

  • Communication: Practice good communication with the children in the clubs by sending out regular updates, text messages to the parents, and invitations to the children and their families for ongoing special events. This communication is specifically for the children in the CEF club and/or for the children and their families’ connection to your church.

  • Locations: These connection events could be held at your church or at another location that would help connect the children and their families to your church.

    • Consider hosting a ‘Club to Church’ transition event, inviting the children in the club to a special service, program, or special events gathering.

    • If your church has a church van/bus offer transportation assistance for families who need help getting to the church.

    • Activities: These activities can be varied, creative, and flexible to meet the individual club size, the church size, and the financial budget.

      • Hold a pizza party and invite parents to come.

      • Host a movie night at your church with popcorn, desserts, and/or light snacks. For example, The Secret of Jonathan Sperry, Runner from Ravenshead, Super Book, Theo, The Story of Jesus for Children, Light of the World, etc.

      • Invite children and their families to your church for seasonal, school-year events, such as: Back to School backpack and/or supplies; Harvest Fun-Festival; Thanksgiving Pie Night; Christmas Party Club with extended activities for families (i.e., games, Christmas trivia, refreshments, etc.); Easter outreaches; and an end-of-the-year club program held at the church or during a special church service (i.e., such as, a ‘Good News Club’ Sunday Celebration).

      • Invite the children and their families to an evening of bowling with the club team members from your church.

      • Invite children and their families to your church for special summer ministry events, such as: Vacation Bible School and/or 5-Day Clubs with the closing program held at the church; organize family fun nights; church block parties; pool parties; and church picnics.

      • Invite and help scholarship children in club, particularly from unchurched homes, to attend a week of summer camp (i.e., church camp, CEF camp, sports camp, or day camp).Hold the closing program at your church with songs, Bible verses learned, slide shows, reports and testimonies of the children who attended the camp, along with a ‘Gospel Spotlight’ message for the gathered families to hear a clear presentation of the Gospel.

MINISTER TO: After a connection is made with the family, the Lord will open doors for more prayer and meaningful opportunities for your church to MINISTER TO the children and their families, according to the area of need. The long-term goal is to establish unchurched children and their families into your church for Christian living.

Ideas:

  • Your church specifically invites unchurched children in the club to attend regular children’s ministry activities at your church, such as: Awana or mid-week service programs; Sunday School; Children’s Church; or other ongoing children’s ministries.

  • Consider appointing a team from your church to assist families who have transportation needs.

  • Specifically invite families to come to a ‘Next Steps’ class that is intentionally designed for families of club children that covers a variety of topics, such as: parenting helps with Biblical family values, basics of salvation and spiritual growth in Christ, introduction to the overarching story of the Bible, introduction to the church, etc.

  • Hold a ‘Next Steps’ class for children done in a fun, engaging way to cover topics, such as: Go and Tell: Children Reaching Children; Kids Evangelism Explosion; The Biggest Story; God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible; or other resources to help children with an overview of the Bible and basic salvation and spiritual growth doctrines.

  • Conduct an enfolding ministry into your church class for believing children and families, in accordance with church doctrine. This can be a combination of a new believer’s class, or a step-by-step discipleship plan leading towards baptism and church involvement.

  • Encourage the family to be part of a small group which has a discipleship focus.

  • Provide a family devotional plan to strengthen faith at home.

  • Teach children basics on how to have a daily devotional time with God and provide CEF devotional books as children complete, such as: Every Day with God and The 60-DAY Wonder Devotional Book series.

Are you ready to go deeper in connecting with your GNC families and then ministering to them at your church? Contact us today for more info and practical ideas! nal@cefalabama.com or 256-353-3139

CLICK HERE to access a downloadable PDF of the Reach, Connect, Minister Method.

Are you interested in learning more about Good News Club for your child or how you and your church can get involved?

We currently have clubs in Madison, Morgan, Cullman, Etowah, Jackson, and Limestone Counties.