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Child Evangelism Fellowship Targets Children of Portland under Harsh Criticism
ChristianHeadlines.com ^ | Tuesday, July 22, 2014 | Carrie Dedrick

Posted on 07/30/2014 3:27:50 PM PDT by fwdude

Christian group Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) has set its sights on bringing the children of Portland to Christianity. CEF’s Good News Club is targeting kids at typical summer locations such as pools and parks to join the group amidst harsh criticism.

Oregon is known as the least religious state in the nation from Gallup polls in 2008 and 2012 which is why CEF chose the location for its outreach. And as the current law stands, the Good News Club does not need parent consent forms to approach children in public spaces, as they do for schools.

According to the AP, some Portland residents have joined together to protest the CEF’s tactics. Protect Portland Children organizer Kay Schmitt said, “They pretend to be a mainstream Christian Bible study when in fact they’re a very old school fundamentalist sect.”

But CEF vice president Moises Esteves says that Protect Portland Children just wants to ban Christian outreach. “Children are easy to manipulate, we all know that. We don’t use any of the schemes and high-pressure tactics that we’re accused of. Nothing could be farther from the truth,” he said.

CEF’s Good News Club has been criticized for teaching young children that they are sinners and going to hell if they do not repent, but Esteves said that the group teaches children about sin in a gentle way. “We do teach that children are sinners, but we’re not nasty about it,” he said. “If we were nasty about it, the kid wouldn’t come back.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy; US: Oregon
KEYWORDS: antichristian; cef; evangelism
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An added Commentary from The Berean Call, which references this article:

TBC: “Old School Fundamentalist Sect” is the term now heard identifying those saints of the Lord who remain faithful in preaching the biblical Gospel. Pray for the work of Child Evangelism Fellowship.

1 posted on 07/30/2014 3:27:50 PM PDT by fwdude
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To: fwdude

How DARE people teach children anything but nihilism and worship of the state!


2 posted on 07/30/2014 3:33:07 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (The cure has become worse than the disease. Support an end to the WOD now.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

If the parents refuse to introduce their children to Chist, The Child Evangelism Fellowship, has the duty and right to do so.


3 posted on 07/30/2014 3:45:53 PM PDT by Oliviaforever
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To: Oliviaforever

“Protect Portland Children organizer Kay Schmitt said, “They pretend to be a mainstream Christian Bible study when in fact they’re a very old school fundamentalist sect.”

Translation: “mainstream Christian Bible study” = liberal church that accepts homosexual pastors and “very old school fundamentalist sect” = evangelical Christians who refuse to violate the word of God.


4 posted on 07/30/2014 3:53:44 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (The cure has become worse than the disease. Support an end to the WOD now.)
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To: Oliviaforever
If the parents refuse to introduce their children to Chist, The Child Evangelism Fellowship, has the duty and right to do so.

Do the Mormons have the right to proselytize your child without your consent? The Scientologists? The Moslems?

5 posted on 07/30/2014 4:06:07 PM PDT by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: Oliviaforever

“If the parents refuse to introduce their children to Chist, The Child Evangelism Fellowship, has the duty and right to do so.”

I don’t agree with that position. If the Child Evangelism Fellowship has such a right, wouldn’t any other religious group have the same right. What about rag heads? would that be OK with you?


6 posted on 07/30/2014 4:07:46 PM PDT by babygene ( .)
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To: fwdude

I’ve been involved with a Good News Club for 5 years at one of our local elementary schools. We’ve had kids come for awhile then drop out, but the majority of kids come each week and love it. Everything we do (music, lessons, review games) is evangelical in nature so the kids get a consistent message of the Gospel. Even with all the teaching not all of the kids make a decision for Christ, some we get to pray with for whatever is going on in their lives. Believe me, kids in public school can deal with all kinds of stressful situations and they are glad they have someone to talk to.


7 posted on 07/30/2014 4:08:00 PM PDT by uptowngirl
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To: Oliviaforever

The Lord did say that if people refuse to hear the gospel, shake the dust off your shoes and go elsewhere.

Wonder how the local atheists would react if the CEF were to do so in a very public manner?


8 posted on 07/30/2014 4:16:47 PM PDT by Ban Draoi Marbh Draoi ( Gen. 12:3: a warning to all anti-semites.)
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To: fwdude

Oh no they dont! The kids of Portland may have only one god, and his name is BARACK HUSSEINICUS SOEBARKAH!


9 posted on 07/30/2014 4:16:57 PM PDT by Viennacon (Barry Obama? No... Barack Hussein Soebarkah.)
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To: fwdude

I don’t want anyone proselytizing over my kids thank you very much.


10 posted on 07/30/2014 4:30:33 PM PDT by arbitrary.squid
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To: arbitrary.squid

Just leftists in the media hyping things out of proportion again.


11 posted on 07/30/2014 4:32:41 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: Lurking Libertarian; Oliviaforever
Do the Mormons have the right to proselytize your child without your consent? The Scientologists? The Moslems?

Well, since the God of the Bible, otherwise known as the only God, the one who created the Universe, has commanded that we go out and gather in those to the harvest, or proselyte them, that pretty much means it is our right, and our duty.

Now given that the groups you mentioned are cults, there really isn't any relevance there, even though you might think so.
12 posted on 07/30/2014 4:46:36 PM PDT by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
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To: arbitrary.squid
I don’t want anyone proselytizing over my kids thank you very much.

You might not like it, however, God has commanded Christians everywhere to do just that.
13 posted on 07/30/2014 4:48:23 PM PDT by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
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To: Lurking Libertarian

“Do the Mormons have the right to proselytize your child without your consent? The Scientologists? The Moslems?”

One would have to determine if the Framers of the Constitution had the Scientologists and Moslems in mind and when they authorized the First Amendment, and if it was their original intent to provide protections to non Christian or Jewsih groups that had no organizational history in the United States.

The determination of that question is quite easy and clear as Scientology did not exist and the United States was not an Islmaic nation in 1787 and we are not today.

Thus, the answer would be that the Scientologists and Muslims would not be free to practice a freedom that they do not have under the Constitution and if they did, they would be violating the Right of Christian children and their parents.


14 posted on 07/30/2014 4:53:41 PM PDT by Oliviaforever
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To: Oliviaforever

if they are in public schools they are getting proselytized by leftists and perverts


15 posted on 07/30/2014 4:55:28 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: fwdude

I would presume that these children are under the supervision of their parents. This “outrage” is an Anti-Christ rant.


16 posted on 07/30/2014 5:00:59 PM PDT by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.)
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To: fwdude

Do parents still teach their kids not to talk to strangers?


17 posted on 07/30/2014 5:08:28 PM PDT by Salman
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To: arbitrary.squid

Good News Club (sponsored by CEF) does not proselytize any kid outside of the club. Each child who attends MUST have a signed permission slip from his parents allowing him to attend. Most are already Christians, but some are not and yes, they do hear about the saving work of Jesus Christ at the club...


18 posted on 07/30/2014 6:54:31 PM PDT by pajama pundit (I don't have enough faith to believe in evolution.)
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To: pajama pundit

That’s a different thing. This sounds like adults approaching children out in public, which I’m not comfortable with at all.


19 posted on 07/31/2014 9:54:22 AM PDT by arbitrary.squid
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To: SoConPubbie
Well, since the God of the Bible, otherwise known as the only God, the one who created the Universe, has commanded that we go out and gather in those to the harvest, or proselyte them, that pretty much means it is our right, and our duty. Now given that the groups you mentioned are cults, there really isn't any relevance there, even though you might think so.

And the Mormon, Muslims, and the rest are of the opinion that Christians are deluded and do not believe in the One True Religion.

Bottom line, I will teach my kids in the manner I choose. If YOU choose to try to impose your viewpoints on MY kids, then we will have a problem.

20 posted on 07/31/2014 10:29:30 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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