In one corner of Northern Ireland, a Good News Club has been telling children about Jesus for fifty years.

In January 2026, the club marked its 50th anniversary with a special evening. It had grown out of a children’s meeting started a few years earlier and officially became a Good News Club in January 1976. Half a century on, those who had been part of the story gathered to remember and give thanks.

Memories and Familiar Choruses

People shared memories while old photographs flickered across the screen. Familiar choruses filled the room — people who had attended the club as children, now grown, introduced each one. Some explained why a particular chorus had stayed with them.

Lives Shaped by the Gospel

One of the current teachers, who had been involved from the very beginning, reflected on the years gone by. Then came the video clips — testimonies of lives the club had shaped. Some came to faith as children. Others, only later in life. A mother spoke of the impact the teaching had on her whole family.

One Generation to the Next                                                            

The current children also took part, singing for the older generation. It was a quiet picture of continuity — one generation handing the gospel to the next.

A CEF worker shared about the wider ministry and showed some of the new materials used today. The methods have changed over the years, but the heart has not. Teaching God’s Word remains central to everything CEF does.

Mr Kenneth Martin, a retired CEF of Ireland worker, closed the evening with a gospel message — taught using flannelgraph, just as it would have been in the 1970s.

Reflection

Only eternity will reveal the full impact of one faithful Good News Club. But evenings like this offer a glimpse. “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1:6). When God’s Word goes out, it does not return empty — sometimes bearing fruit immediately, sometimes after decades, but always according to His purpose.

Praise God for fifty years of faithfulness. Pray with us for fifty more.

-Testimony from a worker in CEF of Ireland (Heather)

(Image:Adobe Express)