First and foremost, you need to know the following: Child Evangelism Fellowship® is an interdenominational Bible-centered organization composed of born-again believers whose purpose is 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 local church for Christian living.
CEF® Vision Statement
Our ministry vision is to reach Every Child, Every Nation, Every Day with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Short CEF History
CEF was founded by Rev. Jesse Irvin Overholtzer in 1937. Growing up in a religious family, Jesse was convicted of his own sin at the age of 12 and sought counsel from his mother. He was told, “Son, you are too young.” It wasn’t until Overholtzer was in college that he heard the Gospel and trusted Christ as his Savior.
Later as a pastor Rev. Overholtzer read one of Charles Spurgeon’s sermons which stated, “A child of five, if properly instructed can as truly believe and be regenerated as an adult.” The Lord used this statement in Rev. Overholtzer’s life to lead him to begin the ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship when he was 60 years old. The ministry has grown into the largest evangelistic outreach to children worldwide. CEF is currently ministering in countries around the world and in every state in the United States.
As of 2024, CEF has 3470 full-time missionaries worldwide. This does not include the thousands of volunteers who give their time to reach the children. Also, in 2024, 533,625 people were trained to work in CEF. There were more than 100,517 Good News Clubs around the world! Over 16,000 5-Day Clubs were held. There were also 306,358 Christmas Party Clubs held all over the world. The number of children that were reached in face-to-face ministries was 27,434,068! The total number of children reached through face-to-face, digital, and print ministry was 31,036,873! Even more exciting is that 9,264,583 accepted Jesus as their Savior! What an amazing God we serve!
CEF of Greater Louisville – Specifically
CEF of Greater Louisville (KY) was formed in 2003 by a compassionate group of volunteers who wanted to partner with the international CEF organization to help spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to the children in the greater Louisville area. The current committee of the Greater Louisville Chapter includes six volunteers who bring decades of experience in Christian ministry and oversight to the local CEF efforts. Our current Interim Local Coordinator directs and coordinates the local 5-Day Clubs, the summer Good News Clubs, and the annual kids’ Christmas parties, along with the invaluable help of over 50 volunteers.
Over the years, our Chapter has ministered to hundreds of children in Kentucky’s Jefferson, Bullitt, Oldham, Spencer, Shelby, Henry, and Trimble counties. We work with various other Christian ministries and several local churches to provide the most effective Christian outreach to the children in the Greater Louisville area who desperately need to hear the Gospel.