‘Fred Pry, CEF® Vice President of Administration:
‘As Christian persecution is expanding, CEF’s ministries are playing a critical role in reaching children everywhere with the Good News’
For Immediate Release
February 3, 2026
ST. LOUIS — A new report from Open Doors US indicates that Christian persecution has reached an unprecedented scale worldwide. The findings reveal that 388 million Christians — more than one in seven — are experiencing high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith, marking an increase of over 8 million compared to last year.
Child Evangelism Fellowship® (CEF®) is committed to carrying the hope of Christ into some of the most persecuted places on earth. From its first cross-cultural missionaries sent to Mexico in 1943, CEF has focused on carrying the Gospel for more than 80 years into every region of the world.
In 2024, 98% of CEF staff worldwide were national missionaries, living and serving in their own country. Today, CEF has more than 3,500 missionaries serving worldwide, 3,400 of whom are nationals. Of these, only 923 are full-time missionaries working across the U.S. and Canada. These staff are assisted by more than 133,000 volunteers worldwide.
In addition, CEF has developed a robust missionary program to support, train and equip full-time U.S.-sent missionaries.
According to Fred Pry, Vice President of Administration, “The purpose of our Missionary Program is simple: To serve cross-culturally alongside national leaders and missionaries. We strengthen CEF ministries internationally and carry out the mission of CEF to help develop an established, thriving, indigenous CEF ministry in every nation of the world.”
The primary outreach tools or “highways” for CEF’s ministries remain the organization’s engaging, enriching programs, including:
Christmas Party Club®, which reaches children with the real story of Christmas
- Good News Club®, where trained teachers meet with groups of children in schools, homes, community centers and churches
- 5-Day Club®, where children hear the Gospel through Bible lessons, learning activities, missionary stories, songs and Scripture memorization while on their school break
- Children Reaching Children, a ministry focused on equipping children to share the Gospel with their peers through the Go and Tell! training program
- Junior Youth Challenge®, an evangelistic and discipleship ministry for young people ages 11-14
- U-Nite®Digital Ministry, a free, safe streaming service where kids can stream animated adventures and podcast episodes that teach truths from the Bible
- Global Literature Distribution, which places these “paper missionaries” containing the Good News directly into the hands of children
Pry concluded, “As Christian persecution is expanding, CEF’s ministries are playing a critical role in reaching children everywhere with the Good News.”
Vice President of Administration, Fred Pry, and Vice President of USA Ministries, Jeff Nicols, will be at NRB 2026 and are available for interviews. To schedule an interview with Pry or Nichols now or at NRB, contact Hamilton Strategies, [email protected], Beth Bogucki, 610.584.1096, ext. 105, or Daniel Moyer, ext. 104.
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 heard or read the Good News. More than 533,000 teachers were trained around the world.
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 Hamilton Strategies, [email protected], Beth Bogucki, 610.584.1096, ext. 105, or Daniel Moyer, ext. 104.