‘As they venture into the unfamiliar environment of middle school, it’s vital that they continue to grow in their faith, build quality relationships with other believers their age, and together stand firm in the truth of God’s Word in today’s culture,’ says Children’s Ministry Institute®(CMI®) Online Director and Leadership Training Instructor Dr. Faith Dugan
For Immediate Release
July 14, 2025
ST. LOUIS — Child Evangelism Fellowship® (CEF®) is known for introducing children to Jesus and strengthening the faith of Christian children all over the world through its programs, including Good News Club®.
Junior Youth Challenge® (JYC™) bridges the gap between Good News Club and the Christian Youth In Action® program for older teens and encourages young people to serve in the CEF ministry as staff.
Junior Youth Challenge is a global ministry all about discovering what the Bible says and how it applies to the lives of young teens aged 11 to 15. Today, many CEF workers have come through their youth programs.
Q&A with CMI Online Director and Leadership Training Instructor Dr. Faith Dugan.
Q: Why is it important to have a ministry catering to the 11-15 age group?
“The middle school age group is sometimes overlooked. They might feel like they don’t fit in children’s programs, or they may feel unaccepted by the older members of a youth group.
“Children who attend an after-school Good News Club at their elementary school experience a sense of loss when they discover that there is no similar club for them when they move on to middle school. As they venture into the unfamiliar environment of middle school, it’s vital that they continue to grow in their faith, build quality relationships with other believers their age, and together stand firm in the truth of God’s Word in today’s culture. JYC clubs can help meet that need.”
Q: Why is CEF putting such a large emphasis on JYC?
“CEF has embraced a God-sized goal of increasing the number of children reached by 18 percent annually. That means moving beyond the 27 million children reached in 2024 to reaching 100 million children by 2032. The JYC age group is one of the target groups that will help us move forward toward this goal. Not only will thousands of young people be reached, but they will be equipped and encouraged to share the Gospel with their peers.”
Q: Do you have a testimony of how JYC has changed the life of a student?
Colin Hylands, CEF Ireland Team Leader for Junior Youth Challenge, shared how one child who began attending a Good News Club was encouraged to grow in her journey with CEF and join JYC:
“Victoria grew up attending Good News Club and at an early age trusted Christ as Savior. She moved from a Good News Club to JYC and was encouraged to share her testimony in the JYC group, was trained in teaching children, and was encouraged to begin helping in 5-Day Clubs and GNC. She kept taking more opportunities both locally with CEF and then progressing out in the pattern of Acts 1:8. She has since moved to another part of the island where she established a children’s ministry in her new church.
“Kate came from a home where none of her family were Christians. She began to attend a school-based GNC, and as she got older, she was encouraged by her local worker to attend JYC. She began attending camps, attended a summer outreach training course, and became more involved in reaching out to others. At a meeting where some of the young people who had served with CYIA were reporting, she was challenged by something the speaker said about being committed and accountable to a local church. So, she asked the CEF worker about it, and he arranged for someone to pick her up from her home and take her to a local church. She (and some of her family) still go, she is involved in church life and is still helping as a local volunteer with CEF in a 5-Day Club and other ministries.”
A CEF staff member shared a JYC story about how a young boy named Elijah paved the way to launch a JYC club in his middle school:
“When the middle school kids stopped attending the home-based Good News Club, God stirred 13-year-old Elijah’s heart to arrange to get a student-led Bible club. Elijah had faithfully attended Good News Club, 5-Day Club, and completed the Go and Tell! training. Elijah secured permission to use the school social studies classroom in the middle school where the after-school Bible club would meet. Elijah led a group of seven peers through the book of Romans on Wednesday afternoons!
“The following school year, Elijah transferred to high school, but he had prepared the way for a JYC club to be launched at the middle school he had attended!”
A JYC Jumpstart Training will soon be available on the CEF training site. This will help those new to the JYC ministry establish a JYC Club in their ministry area.
Child Evangelism Fellowship® (CEF®), which was founded 88 years ago, has been establishing the Good News Club® in countries around the world for decades. Clubs are thriving worldwide, in countries including Australia, Cambodia, Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uganda and many more.
In 2024, through the combined ministries of CEF, more than 31 million children worldwide were impacted for Christ. More than 533,000 teachers were trained around the world to reach children.
For more CEF news, see the ministry’s latest edition of the online magazine Impact.
CEF is an international, nonprofit, Christian ministry that has been dedicated to seeing every child reached with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, discipled, and established in a local church since 1937. CEF is located in all 50 American states and in most countries around the world, with over 3,500 paid staff and tens of thousands of volunteers around the world.
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To interview a representative from Child Evangelism Fellowship, contact [email protected], Beth Bogucki, 610.584.1096, ext. 105, Dawn Foglein, ext. 100, or Daniel Moyer, ext. 104.