Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday

CEF’s practice is to ask God and tell His people. As you consider where to give this Giving Tuesday, please consider giving to Chicago CEF. With over 1.1 million children in Cook and DuPage Counties, there are many who need to hear the good news of the gospel this Christmas season and every day. Our

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A Lesson about Forgiveness

A Lesson about Forgiveness

From a Good News Club teacher. As a club teacher I had to teach a lesson about forgiveness to a group of children, but coming from an abusive past, I struggle with forgiveness. How can I teach forgiveness to children when I have a difficult time forgiving people who have deeply hurt me? As I

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Unburdened

Unburdened

“Sylvia, don’t you want to play the water game with the other kids?” I asked the little girl who was standing off to the side at the beginning of our summer 5-Day Club. “No,” she said flatly, looking at the ground. “Well then, can I tell you a story?” I countered. Usually, my little Wordless

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Her Prayer

Her Prayer

Good News Club changes lives. Sharing the Gospel with a child can bring about a major change in that child’s attitude and actions. As Good News Club teachers go into public schools they only see that effect once a week. Luckily one of our club teachers called the office, very excited to tell us about her daughter, who has

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Shine the LIGHT in Maywood

Shine the LIGHT in Maywood

Two years ago the Mayor of Maywood called the village together to pray. She instructed the police to block off the street in front of her office, put up a podium with a microphone in the middle of the street and invited clergy and ministry leaders to step to the podium and pray. Ministry leaders

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A Fertile Ground

A Fertile Ground

Above is a training class where we are teaching teachers how to present the gospel to children using the Wordless Book method. One teacher who took the training not only used what she learned with children but with adult inmates in the Cook County jail. The following is her story of how God, in His sovereignty,

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Tears of Sadness Turned to Tears of Joy!

Tears of Sadness Turned to Tears of Joy!

As the club teacher shared the gospel with the young girl, she was in tears… At the age of 7, she was sad because she had sinned against God and she recognized that her sin separated her from God. These tears of sadness were the result of the Holy Spirit convicting her of her sin

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Transforming Lives from the Inside Out

Transforming Lives from the Inside Out

As I tried to maintain control over the group of 50+ children who were milling around during our Bible club, I realized that part of the problem was Tyson (name changed), a 13-year-old who we had asked to come “help out” at Bible club. Tyson was too old to be officially part of our Bible

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Prayer Changes Things

Prayer Changes Things

Prayer is the foundation of everything we do. Without the power of prayer, all of the work in the world will amount to nothing of value. Five years ago, the Chicago CEF team intensified its focus on prayer by praying together every Monday morning via a conference call. During one of those calls five months

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God is Bigger

God is Bigger

As kids filed out of the Good News Club classroom after the Bible lesson, Kaitlin timidly came up to her teacher, “I hear voices in my head telling me not to talk to you, but I know I’m lost like that sheep in the story the good shepherd told,” she whispered, plucking nervously at the

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