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LATEST NEWS

Praise God! CEFOntario has moved to a camp near Brantford - and on October 1st it will be ours!

Who can understand God’s timing? Who knows why He chooses to do what He does at a certain time? It’s not up to us to second guess God, but to respond as He leads. After years of looking and waiting for a new facility, sometime in the past year God decided the time was right. Last summer He began to set in motion an amazing series of events in which His intervention is so clear it would be impossible for us to claim any credit for ourselves. Here’s the result.

On March 1 CEFOntario moved to its new location, a camp property just west of Brantford, Ontario. For now we’re renting office space there from the current owner, the Kiwanis Club of Brantford, but on October 1 we will complete the deal to purchase the camp. Next year we will be able to make full use of this wonderful facility, which is essentially a single, modern 11,000 square foot building with many features that suit us perfectly.

• 14 air conditioned dormitory rooms that will sleep a total of 54 – 80 people
  
• Each pair of room has an adjoining washroom with shower
  
• Office space to house our provincial offices
  
• Commercial kitchen
  
• Seating for 120 (at tables) or 200 (theatre style)
  
• Outdoor pavilion
  
• Playground
  
• Large paved parking lot
  
• Apartment
  
• Attached garage
  
• 12 acres of “wilderness” property, leased from the Grand River Conservation Authority

How will CEF use this facility?

You may wonder how a ministry that has existed for so long in an office space can make use of a facility like this. The answer is that we have always used camps and other facilities for our programming, but we’ve had to rent them. Very soon all of those programs and more will be accommodated at our own property. We’ve already identified a long list of uses, and no doubt the list will grow as the months go on.

• CEFOntario provincial offices
  
• Summer Training Institute
  
• Camp Good News, which can now potentially expand to six weeks of camp or more
  
• weekend children’s retreats and March break camp
  
• CYIA retreats
  
• CYIA “Welcome Home” weekend
  
• Teaching Children Effectively courses
  
• Weekend training retreats for children’s workers
  
• Training retreats for CEF volunteers
  
• Overnight accommodations for provincial staff meetings
  
• Provincial Director meetings
  (meetings with leaders from other provinces)
  
• Board planning meetings
  
• National CEF training initiatives
  
• Annual General Meeting
  
• Prayer events
  
• Supporter events
  

Can CEFOntario afford such a purchase?

Not long ago we thought a facility like this would be beyond us, but we’ve seen again that with God anything is possible. He’s given us an extraordinary facility at a truly affordable price.

Aside from the purchase price, we will have expenses for closing / moving costs, minor renovations for our office, and some equipment we’ll need to purchase. On the plus side we have the proceeds from the sale of our office and some funds we have on hand (because God did another miracle this year - in our finances). The net result is that we need to raise only $100,000 to move in entirely debt free. That’s not much in today’s real estate market, and when compared to the wonderful benefits this facility will bring to the ministry, it’s truly a great investment.

The other financial consideration is the ongoing operating costs, and that news is good as well. With the money we’ll save by not having to rent facilities for STI, Camp Good News, etc., ongoing costs will be similar to what we’re currently experiencing. In fact we may come out ahead, since the facilities can be rented to churches and other Christian organizations when we don’t need them for our own ministry functions.

Would you like to be part of the miracle?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could raise the $100,000 by October 1, and move in debt free?

God’s fingerprints have been everywhere in this process, and He can certainly provide the money if He chooses to do so. Would you like to be a part of the miracle by making a special gift to this project? Please use the enclosed response card and check the box marked “camp”.

As important as this project is, it’s equally important that our partners don’t redirect gifts they would ordinarily give to support staff, or one of our ministries, or the general ministry fund. Reallocating support could create shortages in other areas of the ministry. If you wish to give toward the camp, would you consider doing so above and beyond what you would normally give to support the ministry? Thank you so much for your help and prayers.

Our new contact information!

CEFOntario
335 Robinson Road, RR #4
Brantford, ON N3T 5L7
Our new local phone is 519-751-1233
Toll Free: 1-877-788-8233 (unchanged)
Fax: 519-751-2233
Email: info@cefontario.org (unchanged)