Happy Fall, Friends and Supporters!
In this email you will read updates and testimonies from our Summer ministry, our progress with this year’s Good News Clubs, info on hosting a Christmas Party Club, and an invitation to join our bi-weekly prayer email.
Prayer requests are listed on the left. Thank you for your faithful encouragement and support.
– CEF of GBA
Summer Ministry
5-Day Clubs
We had three “5-Day Clubs” this summer, one each in Angola, West Falls, and Orchard Park. About 40 children attended between the three locations, and at least six made professions of faith.
Party Clubs
One church hosted a Party Club, and had 12 children attend, and several parents and grandparents. Keep reading for a testimony from that church.
Another church held five Party Clubs around Buffalo. They estimate that 50+ kids came, including a few who have since attended their church.
Summer Good News Club
A school Good News Club teacher gained permission from her local library to host a GNC there this summer. They met five times and had eight children attend. This opportunity came up suddenly, as we mentioned in our last newsletter, and we are so thankful that this teacher took advantage of it.
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Testimonies from Summer
On the last day of Good News Club this past May, the teacher invited all the students to a summer “5-Day Club” at her house that July. One of the GNC girls came the first day, and on the second day came back with three friends. Two of those friends put their faith in Jesus for salvation.
Praise the Lord for this double testimony – that kids were saved, and that a Good News Club student is reaching her friends for Christ!
A local church used the CEF curriculum to host a 1-Day Party Club around Independence Day. Their event was attended by grandparents who had just gained custody of their
4-year-old grandson. Though not affiliated with any church, these grandparents were looking for free activities for kids, so decided to bring him to the Party Club. All 3 were warmly welcomed, and the little boy had a great time.
The next day, the grandma contacted the pastor to ask for prayers, as her daughter (the little boy’s mother) had passed away suddenly the night before. The pastor was able to minister to them in their time of grief, and the family has been receptive to the gospel.
Praise the Lord that they decided to hold a Party Club during a busy holiday time, and that this family came. Pray they come to Christ.
Good News Clubs
By the time you read this, we will have three after-school Good News Club up and running for elementary students, one starting in a few days, and a final club starting in November. If you have an elementary student in Blasdell, Evans, Hamburg, or in the Highgate Heights Public School, please consider sending them to a Good News Club!
Special Prayer Request:
We would like to enlist your prayer help for someone to lead a Bible club at the Lake Shore Middle School.There used to be a club in that school before Covid, and we recently found out that the door is still open. The principal herself has said we are welcome to come in as part of the school’s “Tenth Period.” It would be a fast club – 2:30pm-3:00pm one day per week.
There are three elementary schools in this district that funnel up to the Middle School. That means there are kids who have attended GNCs for several years who are wiling to form a core group in the middle school. We believe that God has opened this door for us. We also believe that He is calling someone to step through this door and lead the club. Some people have offered to help, or to lead on a temporary basis, but a club like this needs a consistent teacher. Will you pray with us that God will work in that person’s heart?
This club would use the CEF “Junior Youth Challenge” Curriculum, which would be provided. Training is also available.
Christmas Party Clubs
The Christmas season will soon be here, bringing us a great opportunity to share the Reason for the season. CEF has produced several “Christmas Party Clubs” to help share the story of Christmas with the children around us. In fact, this is one of their biggest outreach programs of the year – last year these “CPC”s reached over 10 million children globally!
A CPC can be done as a stand-alone event in a home, church, or school. It can also be incorporated into a Sunday School class or other children’s ministry. It can last 1-2 hours, depending on what the leader wants.
We at CEF of GBA have committed to purchasing the curriculum for anyone who wants to host a Christmas Party Club, and can also provide training in how to run this kind of club (although it is quite self-explanatory). Please reach out to us if you are interested.
Bi-Weekly Prayer Email
In September we started to send out prayer request emails every other week. We realized that a quarterly newsletter was not sufficient to enlist the prayer that we need. Some situations come up quickly, and prayer can’t wait! Each email contains 3-4 requests for the next 2 weeks, and also the answers to the requests from the previous email. Will you join us in praying more often for the kids of WNY? Send us your email address!
