For more than 90 years, Child Evangelism Fellowship, also known as CEF, has ministered to children worldwide. With the ongoing war in the Middle East, the organization sees its work as more important than ever.
“I was talking to Saide, who is our national leader in Lebanon,” Sam Rejoy, CEF Middle East Director told CBN News. “And this is what she says, ‘The situation is currently difficult. Bombs are close to my house, but we are still providing our ministry.'”
Rejoy shared why bringing the hope of Christ to children in the region is so important, especially now.
“Two billion children around the world that need to hear the gospel,” Rejoy explained. “And of these, about 40 percent of them live in the Middle East. And the question is, as the Bible says, ‘How will they hear the gospel unless someone goes?'”
CEF uses Good News Clubs and online ministry to reach the kids – something Rejoy admits can be difficult in the part of the world often hostile to Christianity.
“The war may be a new thing in the region right now, but our workers and volunteers have faced a lot of opposition and challenges. They’re ostracized. They are many times faced with challenges related to even personal attacks or not being able to share the gospel or their faith publicly,” said Rejoy.
But the impact is life-changing.
“There are many refugee camps with millions of people who are displaced in these refugee camps. And we have ministry that goes to these refugee camps,” Rejoy said. “There was this little 11-year-old boy whose family was shot right in front of him, and he escaped. His grandfather took him to a refugee camp and our workers found Adi in this refugee camp, shared the gospel with him, and continue to even speak to him and minister to him for all the psychological trauma that he’s been through.”
It is a passion that continues as the current conflict intensifies.
Rejoy also shared a powerful message from a faithful worker in Israel.
“These are difficult days,” the worker said in a voicemail. “Every hour there are sirens and bombings around. Debris falls around. In his voice message he said that they’re mostly staying in their basements, but he says, ‘I am preparing for my Children’s Ministry Institute teaching sessions that I need to do next week.'”
“So, you can see the heart of our workers coming out, even with missiles flying around and they’re still preparing for ministry,” said Rejoy.
Other workers are also hopeful about the future.
“I was talking to our leader who leads Iran and who is a refugee in another country, and she’s so excited with what’s going on because she believes that this is what God is doing so that her people in that country can hear the gospel.”
“And that is something that we can really pray, pray that Iran will be free. This is what she says: ‘Pray that very soon Iran will be free and I go back and we start a new chapter of CEF in my country,'” Rejoy explained.
