Good News Club in Schools

[ChefMenteur]

I've recently encountered the Good News Club at my daughter's elementary school, where she is in kindergarten. It's an after school program of the Child Evangelism Fellowship, an old and international organization. There's lot's of singing, storytelling, child-friendly preaching etc.

And my problem isn't that they hold their meetings after school at the school, nor that they send fliers home in the children's backpacks. I realize that a relatively recent Supreme Court decision allows them to do this, and I don't have a problem with that.

But I've been researching and researching, trying to decide what kind of Christianity they're preaching in there, and I can't pin it down entirely. I do know, though, that several of the theological precepts that the CEF holds to are, at least, matters of debate within the Christian community, and some are definitely at odds with Catholicism, which I have a personal interest in (being Catholic), and which is (unusually for this area) the religion of a great number of parents at the school. My child does not attend The Good News Club (we're pretty happy with her Christian development so far), but she sees a lot of other kids attending and wonders why she isn't. One of the ladies from The Good News Club even came into my daughter's after school program, unannounced, and began recruiting. I'm sure she was just an over-enthusiastic volunteer with her heart in the right place, but I wish she hadn't.

So:  My question is, to those who are more familiar with The Good News Club:  How would my Catholic child fit in, who might not believe that salvation occurs through faith alone, and who believes in transubstantiation and the presence of the body of Christ in the Eucharist, and who doesn't believe (as a matter of longstanding Catholic doctrine) that scripture is to be read literally in every word?  I'm not interested in having my child pressured to convert at an after-school program.

But if I can be convinced that I'm being paranoid, I'd happily send her to The Good News Club. They seem to be having fun.

[belle]

I think your daughter will be able to form her own spiritual opinion. being exposed to churches other than yours is actually helpful to this experience.

of course, no one should ever tell her she is "wrong" to hold Catholic beliefs, but just learning other practices and beliefs will enrich her world, and make her think about what she believes and why. try going to the program one day and see how evangelical they are.

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