About CEF

Who We Are

Child Evangelism Fellowship is a Bible-centered organization composed of born-again believers whose purpose is to reach boys and girls with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, to help them grow in their understanding of the Word of God and help connect them with a local church for Christian living.

CEF is the world's largest mission agency to children, reaching over 20 million children a year in every state and around the world! We work together with churches, schools and communities so boys and girls are able to hear and understand how to begin a forever relationship with Jesus Christ.

Reaching Children Worldwide

Our History

Child Evangelism Fellowship's founder, Jesse Overholtzer, began this ministry to reach children with the gospel in 1937. It was his lifetime prayer that children in every nation would be able to hear the gospel message and be given an opportunity to respond to it. He began by going from city to city in the United States and in 1939 he stopped in Fort Wayne, Indiana where he met Louise Kimmel. After hearing his vision to reach children Miss Kimmel officially began ministry with Child Evangelism Fellowship in the Fort Wayne area. We have had continual active ministry to children in the northeast part of Indiana for over 85 years and now we are reaching boys and girls in Elkhart, LaGrange, Steuben, Noble, DeKalb, Allen, Whitley, Wabash, Huntington, Adams, Wells counties.

Our Vision

To Reach
Every Child, Every Nation,
Every Day!

Our Core Ministries

School Year Outreach

Summer Backyard Bible Clubs

Missionary Training
for Teens

Free Bible Lessons
by Mail

We Believe:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God
That the Godhead eternally exists in three persons - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
In the personality and deity of the Lord Jesus Christ
In the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit
That man was created in the image of God, but the whole human race fell in the fall of the first Adam
That Jesus Christ became the sinner's substitute before God and died for the sins of the whole world
In the resurrection of the crucified body of Jesus Christ
That Jesus Christ, in the fullness of the blessings He has secured by His death and resurrection, is received by faith alone.
That the Church is composed of all who truly believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior
That all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ are called into a life of separation from worldly and sinful practices
In the evangelization of the world
In the personal return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
That the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence
That the souls of the lost remain after death in misery until the final judgment
In the reality and personality of Satan