Doesn’t it feel good to watch the wonder and excitement in children gathered around the tree early on Christmas morning? It may be even more fun to see a small child’s anticipation building as they count down to the big day. Brightly decorated trees, colourful packages, mall Santas, TV specials with red-nosed reindeer and jolly snow men – together they create an atmosphere where excitement can’t help but grow. The old adage “Christmas is for children” implies that with age the excitement wears off. Maybe not entirely.

I’m a nostalgic person. I admit it. It comes over me every year when Christmas rolls around, and some of the feelings from my own childhood begin to emerge. Then I start to reminisce about the years when my own children were small and experiencing the wonders of Christmas. This year I’ll revisit those feelings in a new way as my oldest grandchild, just turned three, has reached an age where Christmas will be a very special time.

I know lots of people who enjoy re-living the special feelings of childhood Christmases through the eyes of the children in their lives. Christmas trees, gifts, and sentimental songs aren’t really what Christmas is about, but they can still make us feel kind of warm inside. But every year, along with the warm feelings of the season, I’m reminded of something else; that most of the excited little children out there are going to miss out once again on what’s really important at Christmas. They’re going to miss that a Saviour is born. For you and I childhood memories might include Sunday School pageants with tea-towelled shepherds, angels with crooked (but glittering) halos, and a baby doll in a manger. For most children today those things aren’t part of any Christmas they’ve known, and won’t be fondly remembered in the years to come. That’s a tragedy.

Imagine Christmas with no Mary and Joseph and no baby in a manger. No shining angels announcing the birth of the Saviour, and no humble shepherds reverently kneeling in a straw filled stable. Each year fewer and fewer children know that this special time of year is really about God’s gift in the person of His Son Jesus. This isn’t just something to make us shake our heads and sadly say, “Oh, look what they’re missing out on.” It’s a serious matter with eternal consequences, and it demands a response.

What should our response be?

It may be good to put nativity scenes in parades, or work to keep “Merry Christmas” from being replaced with “Happy Holidays”, but the problem is much deeper, and much more is needed. Children need to know the real story behind the baby in the manger. They need to know what the angel meant by the words “a Saviour is born”. They need to know that God loves them enough that He gave His Son as a gift to them.

An old proverb says it’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. Here’s what I think that means. Instead of being disgruntled about the commercialism and the secularization of Christmas, let’s take the light to children who, if given the chance, will be overwhelmed with the real wonder of Christmas!

The Bible says that apart from Jesus children are in spiritual darkness. That’s not a nice sounding Christmas message, but it’s true for most of Canada’s children. They don’t even know who Jesus is. If that concerns you, will you help us light a candle that will shine the love of God in the hearts of boys and girls who are in darkness this Christmas?

That’s what CEF ministry is all about - all the time, at Christmas and throughout the year. Everything we do at CEF is done with the goal of helping children know the love of Jesus - love demonstrated by His birth in a stable 2000 years ago. Is Christmas for children? Absolutely!

On behalf of the staff and board of CEFOntario I would like to wish you God’s blessing this Christmas season.

2009 – A Wonderful Success Story!

I wish I could sit down across the kitchen table this Christmas with every person who’s been praying or giving to support CEFOntario. If I could only share with you personally the amazing things God has done over this past year I know you would be excited. It’s not practical to write the many pages it would take to tell it all in the way I would like. So although numbers are only a small part of the story, these stats will give you a glimpse of what’s been accomplished just this year through CEFOntario ministries.

• Good News Clubs and 5-day Clubs – ministered face to face to 4300 children
• Fair Ministry – shared the Gospel with about 8000 children
• Camp Good News - 65 campers attended from high-poverty, high-risk environments
• Tel-a-Story - 39,098 calls were received from across Canada
• Mailbox Club - 989 children received lessons
• Summer Training Institute – we trained 61 teens and young adults at the 2-week training camp
• Summer Missionaries - 39 summer missionaries were sent to cities and towns all across the province
• Training - 1452 children’s workers were trained through seminars and TCE courses
• Casting vision – we challenged and encouraged 5400 people with the need to reach children
• Missions – CEFOntario provided regular monthly support for a full time CEF worker in Guyana
• “Care For Kids” conference – 442 people attended from more than 80 churches in the GTA
• Counselled - 245 children came to faith in Jesus through CEFOntario ministries (that we know about)
  

It’s been a great year. So much has been accomplished, yet even now new forms of ministry are in development as we look ahead. With God’s help we hope to minister more effectively, and to even greater numbers, in the coming year.

We are dependent on God every day. He is the one who provides what we need to accomplish His will for the ministry. We also know God normally provides through His people. Do you believe in the need to share Jesus with the children of Ontario? Would you consider making a special gift this Christmas to help us maintain these essential ministries into the start of a new year? You can be confident that your gift to CEF is a sound investment in the lives of children. Thank you for responding as God would lead you. Please pray for us when we come to your mind.

If you have some nice Christmas pictures that can go in there that would be great.

Thanks,

Ivhan Rusli

Youth Director