Merry Christmas, dear friends and supporters!
Thank you for your faithfulness in giving and praying for us during this last year. We couldn’t have done it without you. In this quarterly newsletter, you will read about the four Good News Clubs that happen every week, an invitation to view our new website, and a letter from my heart. Please continue to pray for us as we finish this year and head into the next. Sincerely, Brian Ide, CEF of Greater Buffalo
Good News Clubs
Since our last letter, school has started again across Erie County. All of our county schools are now back to in-person learning, which means some of our in-person clubs have restarted, too. We even started a brand new club! That’s not to say there haven’t been any obstacles. Every club this year seems to have its own unique challenges, and the theme this year seems to be “Adapt and Adjust!”
Eden School District. The Eden club was our smallest last year, with just two students attending online. Unfortunately those children moved out of state, and this year we don’t currently have any children attending from Eden. One of the major problems is transportation. All the children must leave the school at dismissal (this is partly due to Covid restrictions, and partly due to the bus driver shortage), so any children that want to come to GNC would have to be driven back to the school an hour after they left. Please pray that the Lord will touch the hearts of the parents and students, and we will get some kids interested. We would hate to lose this opportunity.
Frontier School District. We restarted two in-person clubs in the Frontier district – one in the Big Tree Elementary School, a second in the Cloverbank Elementary School. Both of these were run by wonderful volunteers from the Old Time Baptist Church. Like the Eden GNC, students who wish to attend Club have to leave the building at dismissal time, then get a ride back. The Cloverbank GNC is doing well, and about 10 children attend each week. We had just one precious child register for Big Tree, however, so we have combined those two into one club, held at Cloverbank.
Lakeshore School District. There are no in-person after school programs happening in any of the Lakeshore schools right now; all after school events must take place off-site. After a few closed doors, we were so thankful that Angola Wesleyan Church graciously opened their doors to us, and let us use their building. We were optimistic that students from the elementary schools would merge into this one club, but about a month into the program, our teachers realized that – due to busing issues and Covid concerns – an online club would work better. They switched to an online format, and immediately doubled their attendance.
Blasdell School District. Our newest club! We are so grateful to Blasdell Gospel Chapel for partnering with us and engaging with the students of Blasdell Elementary School. They had five children register at the beginning of the school year (all boys, which is very rare!) and have now built up to eight students.
Buffalo School District. The Buffalo schools have been the most challenging. Like Lakeshore, they are not offering in-house afterschool programs. We have opened up an online club to them, but since the remote learning phase ended, the students had to give back the electronic tablets the school loaned them. Many have no internet access even if they wanted to attend an online club.
Praise! This may sound disheartening, but there are blessings all around! The school administrators have been kind to us, even though this is such a confusing time for them. The parents of our students have been flexible and understanding. The students are excited to come. The teachers are dedicated and doing the best they can in crazy situations. God is still in control, and we thank and praise Him for every opportunity He gives us to shine His light.
A Compassionate Plea from Brian Ide
I am writing to you about the times we live in. If anyone has noticed storms, tsunamis and earthquakes have gotten more prevalent these days. Some would say the cause is climate change or even bad luck. But if anyone would look into God’s word and, in particular, Jesus’ words, they will discover these are the beginnings of birth pains.
The time is approaching, and this is what I’ve noted in society today. People, even believers, are abandoning the Churches. Churches are abandoning God’s Word. In these times we need the Truth, and more unity if the Church is to prevail.
Our ministry, Child Evangelism Fellowship, works to serve Churches. We partner with local Churches and help them get the Gospel out to their local communities. This may be done through Good News Clubs (school year) or 5-Day Clubs (summer). We train these volunteers from these local churches then they are sent out, just like missionaries, to schools, back yards, parks or wherever children can be reached.
We are working to get the Good News of our Great Savior out into the public, but we are running into snags. The first is the number of Churches that have not “compromised” the Word of God, and the second is financial support.
First let’s look at the problem of having so few Bible-believing, and Bible-teaching Churches. CEF Greater Buffalo staff takes time to “vet” Churches in our area. We check their websites, view sermons and even visit in some cases. In our estimation there are seventy Churches that still haven’t compromised the Truth in Erie County alone. Sadly, this number is diminishing. And yet, we have around 120 elementary schools to reach in Erie County alone. The vision of our chapter is to have a Good News Club in each of these schools, but as a you can see by simple math, we need the help of every Bible-believing church in our area. We need them to make a commitment to get the Gospel out. But we are in prayer continually that God will supply this need.
Second snag is finances. We are in the “front lines” doing God’s work. It is said armies run on beans, bullets and band aids. These are our workers. If CEF of Greater Buffalo is to reach the children of Western New York we will need more staff. We need a Summer Coordinator and Trainer. The current staff needs the funds to increase hours of their work.
God used me to start this ministry in August 2015. It has been an “uphill” battle from the start. If you read these newsletters from the start of the chapter to now you will know many “great stories,” but for every great story, there are hardships that have been encountered. I see them as battles. I try to limit the mention of these battles because it may discourage some. But that doesn’t eliminate them. Through all these battles the hardest one for me is the battle of discouragement.
I get discouraged because of the things I mentioned above, but most of all because of the amount of those in need. I realize I can’t do this alone. I pray every day that God would meet our needs and we would reach the children. Please join with me in this battle by praying, volunteering, and supporting.
Thank You. As we close out 2021 and head into 2022, we thank you for your faithful prayer and financial support. We need you. Please continue to partner with us in 2022.
When we shifted from in-person classes to online classes, we were discouraged because it’s really hard to build personal, one-on-one relationships with the kids from behind a screen. One boy in particular, J, had questions about salvation, but there just wasn’t an opportunity to talk to him without all the other kids listening and watching too. We didn’t want him to be self-conscious, so we just prayed for God to work in the situation.
After the Bible lesson in our Good News Club each week, we have an “invitation” time, where any children with questions about the lesson can speak to a teacher one-on-one. After a lesson on Cain and Abel, 4th grader R had some serious questions. He just couldn’t understand how one brother could be so angry as to kill his own brother!