CEF of Ireland199 Templemore AvenueBelfast BT5 4FRTel: 028 9073 2263Fax: 028 9073 2330

1 Tamarisk WayKilnamanaghDublin 24Tel: 01 452 0374

National Directors:Mr & Mrs Philip Annett135 CarnreaghPortadown BT64 3AL

Chairman:Mr Philip Beattie43 Tullyrain RoadGilford BT63 6DY

Hon. Treasurer:Miss Jean Porte7 Milebush CottagesCarrickfergus BT38 7QH

Every Child, EveryCounty, Every Day.

Church to ChildrenProject

On the ground!

Youth Challenge,Meltdown

Spring Week of Prayer

Family News

Diary Dates

Brand New HBCMaterial

CHILD EVANGELISM FELLOWSHIP® OF IRELAND

Spring 2012

letterNewsinfo@cefireland.com • www.cefireland.com

IN THIS ISSUE:

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I love bright sunny days. You can always find plenty to do when the sun is shining andthere are long hours of daylight. Washing the car, tidying up the garden, walking, playinggolf and playing outside with Ethan are some of the things I love to do (though not all onthe same day!) Night time is so different, it’s harder to do most things when there is nodaylight. I have never attempted to cut the grass or play golf at night, I think the resultscould be quite interesting! A phrase I have heard quite often which reminds me I am noton my own when it comes to liking daylight is “It’s great to see such a “qwer” stretch inthe evenings!”

Many times I am reminded of the verse in John 9:4, in fact many times over the pastyear I have been almost consumed and broken by the challenge of this verse.

“I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when noman can work.”

What does this mean for you and me?

Jesus says He has been sent, sent to work. You and I are also faced with the samechallenging command. You and I have been sent into this world to work, we are to workat doing the work that God has commanded us to do. What is this work? We are towork at spreading the Gospel. We are supposed to be working at sharing our faith withothers. We are supposed to be working hard at this task. Why the rush? Why shouldwe be consumed and broken by this challenge? Simple. Night is coming! We havedaylight now, we have opportunity to share the Gospel and so we should be workinghard while we still can. When night comes, the work stops, it’s too late, much less canbe done. Night is coming and how does this make us feel? Are we bothered? Do webelieve this? What if legislation were passed tomorrow forbidding us to share theGospel? What if doors of opportunity to share the Gospel with children in Good NewsClubs® or schools suddenly closed? Basically the challenge for us is to work now whilewe can because we have no guarantee that this work will always be so easy. What atragedy to run out of daylight and have no more open opportunities to share the Gospel.We must work now in order to have no regrets when the night time comes. We shouldbe re-doubling our efforts, re-committing ourselves to the sharing of the Gospel while itis still day! Are you convinced? Are you with me?

This verse has brought us to the place where we have simply prayed, “God, what canwe do now for the children of Ireland while it is still day?” The answer has been comingover the past year, and our heart and vision for the children of Ireland is very simple yetvery great:

“Every child, every county,every day!”

We want every child to havethe opportunity to hear theGospel at least once. Wewould love to see ministrydeveloping in every countyacross Ireland. At the momentthere are 20 counties inIreland where CEF® has notestablished relationships withlocal churches and wherethere is no CEF ministry. That

EVERY CHILD, EVERY COUNTY, EVERY DAY.

means children may have never heard the Gospel evenonce! We would also love to see Christian childrengrowing in their faith and becoming more like Christevery day. This vision is doomed to fail unless God isin it and others like you catch it. I’m going to share withyou next time as to how we plan to see this visionbecome a reality! For now though, let’s re-affirm ourcommitment together to work while it is still day!

CONT’D FROM FRONT PAGE

BRAND NEW HBC MATERIAL

FAMILY NEWSCongratulations to David & Ruth Jackson’s son,Timothy, on his marriage to Kelly in December. Wewish them every blessing as they set out on marriedlife together.

We have welcomed another new Candidate – StevenCondy is currently working alongside the Croziers inMid Ulster. Please pray for him as he gains moreexperience in various aspects of the work.

We extend our deepest sympathy to Margaret Wrighton the sudden homecall of Des. Des & Margaretmanaged Seaview Camp Centre for a number of yearsbefore their retirement. Please continue to rememberMargaret and the family in your prayers.

DIARY DATESPlease note: the CEF National Office and shop will be closed for the duration of Easter Conference andalso on Monday 7 May and Monday & Tuesday 4 & 5June DV.

SPRING WEEK OF PRAYER

For further details contact your local worker or Ruth Jackson at the National Office –

email: ruthj@cefireland.com, tel: 02890 730925

We invite you to join with us in prayer during thisspecial week, beginning Sunday 18 March. Details oftimes and venues are in local area prayer letters.

cont’d on back page

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i n f o @ c e f i r e l a n d . c o m

One of our most exciting prospects this year is the launchof the Church to Children project. This project is aimed athelping, training and equipping local churches to impactthe children in their communities. Here is what two of ourworkers have to say about it:

“The Church to Children project is such an exciting newventure. Recently when I spoke with leaders of a church inthe North Wicklow area, I was so encouraged that thechurch already had a vision to reach out even more in theircommunity and now plans are being put in place to targetareas in their community with this project. This is soexciting, Church to Children project has given meopportunities to share the vision with churches andencourage and enable them where necessary.“

Laurna Nolan, Dublin.

“The Church to Children programme aims to encouragechurches to reach out to children who live nearby but donot come to church. We plan to visit pastors and ministersacross the Mourne area to invite them to consider taking

part in the programme. It is exciting to think what couldbe achieved if churches caught the vision of reaching outto the children around their areas. The distribution of theevangelistic booklet and the subsequent correspondencecourse would be a great way of reaching the children, butour hope is that this would only be the start.

There are many evangelical churches in the Mourne areaand it would be great if God would inspire them toevangelise more children of their communities throughChurch to Children. It would be wonderful if the Church toChildren project was to be the catalyst for churches tostart reaching out more widely to lost children.”

David Crutchley, Mourne.

This is a massive project and needs your support inpraying for many churches to participate and for anamazing amount of children to be reached! Spread theword in your own church and encourage others to pray forand support Church to Children.

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Over the last two years there have been quite a fewpeople who have been challenged by God to serve Himwithin CEF. It is exciting to see so many from differentchurch backgrounds and age groups wanting topassionately serve God wherever He will have them.These candidates initially take the Children’s MinistryLeadership Course at Kilchzimmer and then spend sometime in Ireland, and sometimes further afield, training withlocal workers and missionaries.

With some now coming towards the end of their training,they are seriously seeking God’s will for the next step intheir journey. Where does God want them to go? A localarea? Another country? Do they need to learn a newlanguage? What particular ministry will they be involvedin? All this is exciting but can be very scary and it cansometimes be tough waiting on God’s guidance.

We are praying that this year will be a great year for themany ministries in CEF. It would be brilliant if you couldpray continually for our candidates who are passionatelyseeking where God wants them to be.

Easter conference is always a special time at the youngpeople’s and young adult’s house groups. Catching upwith friends from the summer, relaxing or being energeticin the afternoons, whilst enjoying a time of Bible teachingand challenges on missions. Over the past two years, asignificant addition to this mix has been ‘Meltdown’. This isan opportunity for the young people to relax and spendtime together in the evenings after the main missionarymeetings. The ambience of the setting provides a chanceto relax, chat, and each evening have the opportunity in aninformal setting to ask questions of some of theconference speakers.

This year a further step is being taken. Portrush Town Hallhas been booked to host a ‘Meltdown’ special youth nighton Easter Sunday at 8.30pm. Red Letter will lead praise,and Neil Harkness (CEF Sweden) will bring a challengeregarding young people and missions. A number of CEFworkers will also be available afterwards to discussopportunities for young people to serve in the summer. Ifyou are in your teens or twenties, don’t miss out. Drop intoMeltdown in Portrush Presbyterian on Saturday andMonday evenings after the conference meeting, or comealong on Sunday evening at 8.30pm to Portrush Town Hall.

Easter Conference

This year the focus of the CEF Easter Conference is, ‘Every Child,Every County, Every Day.’ Perhaps you’re one of those who value andsupport the work of CEF but has never yet attended this annual event.

It has been organised with YOU in mind. It will be an opportunity for youto see and hear how God has been answering your prayers for thechildren of our land, to renew your vision and to be encouraged in yourdaily walk with the Lord.

Will you take up the challenge with us, in our work of evangelising thenext generation, to ‘work while it is still day’, as God entrusts us with thetask of reaching every child?

We look forward to having fellowship with you at Easter ConferenceTwenty Twelve.

CHURCH TO CHILDREN PROJECT YOUTH CHALLENGE, MELTDOWN

ON THE GROUND!

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