Contact: Melody Bentley, 571-274-6058

WARRENTON, Mo., May 10, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Child Evangelism Fellowship, the largest Christian ministry to children in the world, celebrates the twelfth anniversary of its Boxes of Books Program this month. Boxes of Books, which is funded through charitable donations, has made a crucial difference in advancing the CEF ministry in developing countries.

In May 1999, Boxes of Books was launched to meet a pressing need: In many of these emerging countries, there were thousands of nationals being trained as teachers by CEF and who were eager to evangelize and disciple children locally in Good News Clubs, but they lacked the funds to purchase the CEF curriculum to do so. Through Boxes of Books, CEF printed the curriculum at its headquarters in Warrenton, Missouri, then shipped boxes of the curriculum for free to the CEF workers abroad. The colorful, high-quality visuals of Bible lessons that make up the curriculum make the gospel come alive for children. The leader of CEF Romania, Mr. Iulian Mangalagiu, captured the effectiveness of this program when he said, "We are thankful to God for those who have a heart for providing the tools to enable our teachers to effectively take the gospel to children. The Boxes of Books program has enabled thousands more children to be reached with the Word of God and has greatly encouraged those teachers who due to financial difficulties would never have been able to afford the materials."

Thanks to Boxes of Books, the number of children CEF has reached around the world has steadily increased each year. In 1999, CEF was able to reach 3.8 million children. Last year, the organization reached over 10 million children. This remarkable growth would not have been possible were it not for the generous donations Boxes of Books has received through the years. Since its inception, the program has received more than four million dollars in charitable donations enabling over 80,000 boxes to be sent worldwide. By the end of this year, the total is expected to reach 95,000. CEF has been a good steward of these funds. While one might imagine that it would be cheaper to print the materials in the country of need, it has actually been cheaper to print them in Warrenton and ship them than it has been to print them anywhere overseas. "Boxes of Books has been a popular charitable cause," said Mr. Harry Robinson, Executive Vice President of International Ministries at CEF, in a recent interview. "The program fills a concrete need and as soon as those boxes are received children benefit greatly."

Donations can be made on line at www.cefonline.com.