Bad News Club/Good News Club in Portland (MERGED)

[Antimony]

A girl I went to high school (fundie lite, if even) with recently posted the following status:

"Please read this article and PRAY PRAY PRAY for our Good News Across America team this week and next week as we face opposition from atheist groups."

Atheist groups...vague.

Along with the link to this article: blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2014/07/16/childrens-ministry-accused-of-psychologically-damaging-children/

...which links to the following:

Christian Today Coverage: christiantoday.com/article/childrens.christian.ministry.called.psychologically.harmful.to.children/38529.htm

AND down the rabbit hole...

alternet.org/belief/right-wing-christian-group-tried-convert-citys-kids-theyre-fighting-back?paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark

facebook.com/ProtectPortlandChildren

oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/07/good_news_club_katherine_stewa.html (I suggest this article for discussion of what they actually do).

From what I've read, Good News Club is a club only for converting children to a very specific brand of Christianity.

This same girl also writes a delightfully amusing blog that isn't all that snarkable but makes me roll my eyes all the time:

servinggodthroughcef.blogspot.com/

Here are some of my favorite snippets:

"God burdened my heart today to pick up the Spanish language so I can minister to more children!"

"The most frustrating part was when a car alarm went off as soon as one of my missionaries gave an invitation. It was definitely Satan trying to hinder God's work, no doubt about it."

(Oh, she also disobeys a woman's no soliciting sign because she figures what she's going door to door for doesn't count.)

I actually *never* noticed this girl in school until she and I apparently both helped with the school senior play and she wrote everybody thank you notes littered with bible verses and bits about God and whatnot. Strange, considering they were thank you notes about helping with producing Sweeney Todd. :lol:

[Trynn]

Oh yes, when we went door to door as seventh day Adventist canvassers, we were supposed to ignore no soliciting signs. For those of us who believed god told us to obey his laws AND mans, we were told

1. We're not selling, we're proselytizing

2. We're not selling, we're leaving the books on a donation basis.

3. People will tell you that you had courage to knock on their door despite the sign and be impressed

4. People forge they have those signs

All of which sounded like bullshit to me, so I would usually skip those houses. I went back and forth between feeling guilty for ignoring them because if they went to hell we were going to feel guilty we had to Ickes (our leaders actually said this to is.) and feeling guilty for breaking the law.

No matter what I did, I couldn't win.

I actually had a sort of system worked out for whether or not I would avoid the houses with signs:

1. Is my leader going to see me?

2. Do I feel like it? (Almost always the answer was no.)

3. Is the sign easily visible from the road? If I don't notice the sign till after I'm already on the front porch, it seemed a bit creepy to run off, especially if I had already knocked.

Anyway, that was a really long winded way of explaining the justification of ignoring no soliciting signs.

[docmom]

So SATAN sets off car alarms? I'd always wondered. Since atheists apparently hava a direct line to Satan, can one of you FJ atheists please ask him to stop doing this at 3AM?

[keen23]

So, wait, these people set up a "Good New Club" at a daycare?!?!? I hope the parents who send their kids there were made aware of the situation. Because I'd be pissed off if I found out that a. the daycare workers were sub-contracting out their duties by handing the kids over to this mission person lady and b. my kids were being indoctrinated. I pay for secular daycare, not VBS.

[Childless]

So, wait, these people set up a "Good New Club" at a daycare?!?!? I hope the parents who send their kids there were made aware of the situation. Because I'd be pissed off if I found out that a. the daycare workers were sub-contracting out their duties by handing the kids over to this mission person lady and b. my kids were being indoctrinated. I pay for secular daycare, not VBS.

Not to mention that daycare workers are licensed by the state and these people are not. How would a parent know their kid was adequately cared for and not in danger? If I wanted my child to get spiritual guidance at daycare, I'd send the child to a Christian daycare run out of a church. If I'm sending my child to a secular daycare, I expect religion to be avoided. Some people have no respect for differing beliefs (even those of the same religion).

As for door to door preaching, I can't stand it. My spiritual life is between me and whatever deity I choose to follow. Everyone else needs to keep their big fat noses out of it.

[Antimony]

So SATAN sets off car alarms? I'd always wondered. Since atheists apparently hava a direct line to Satan, can one of you FJ atheists please ask him to stop doing this at 3AM?

This was one of my favorite things but the logic behind me bothered me so much that I left the one (and only comment ever) on her blog asking if she had considered that God was setting off the car alarm to protect another persons valuables.

She never responded. :shrug:

[doggie]

someone call superman protect Portland. Why is it when you hear things like the good news club you know it is not going to be a happy christian group?

a couple days ago on a street corner saw a bunch of Christians with a giant cross and a Jesus sign wonder if they were part of these monsters?

http://www.katu.com/news/local/Evangeli ... 80052.html

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An evangelical Christian group is trying to convert children as young as five at Portland apartment pools, public parks and dozens of other gathering spots this summer — a campaign that's got hundreds of parents upset.

They've banded together in recent weeks to warn parents about the Child Evangelism Fellowship's Good News Club, buying a full-page ad in the local alternative weekly to highlight the group's tactics.

"They pretend to be a mainstream Christian Bible study when in fact they're a very old school fundamentalist sect," said Kaye Schmitt, an organizer with Protect Portland Children, which takes issue with the group's message and the way it's delivering it.

"Parents should know that out-of-state evangelical fundamentalists are in the Portland area this week, trying to convert children as young as five-years-old, using misleading tactics," said Stacey Jochimsen, another Protect Portland Children member.

CEF says Protect Portland Children is a shadow group run by atheists who seek to dismantle Christian outreach. In an email to KATU, group member Robert Aughenbaugh denied those claims, saying:

"Protect Portland Children is a grassroots coalition or concerned parents, grandparents and citizens. We have members of all faiths and belief systems. Many of our supporters are Christians.

One prominent local pastor, Rev. Chuck Currie, wrote on our Facebook page:

"As a minister in the United Church of Christ, I have deep concerns about the Good News Club and the message it spreads. I appreciate your work."

[Black Aliss]

Dear Child Evangelism Fellowship:

Religion is like a penis. It's fine to have one and it's fine to be proud of it, but please don't whip it out in public and start waving it around... and PLEASE don't try to shove it down my child's throat. Thank you.

[PrairieGirl]

Dear Child Evangelism Fellowship:

Religion is like a penis. It's fine to have one and it's fine to be proud of it, but please don't whip it out in public and start waving it around... and PLEASE don't try to shove it down my child's throat. Thank you.

I once posted this on my FB page and was unfriended by many, many fundies. Good thing, because I was trying to weed out all the people who never mattered to me.

[doggie]

Fundies are getting desperate they are rubbing out if gullible people and have to go after the vulnerable. I mean how is it going to work if you only hook the kids and not their parents?

[Rebelwife]

Fundies are getting desperate they are rubbing out if gullible people and have to go after the vulnerable. I mean how is it going to work if you only hook the kids and not their parents?

Some groups have done that for years - look up Jack Hyles at First Baptist Church of Hammond and his "bus ministries." Bus ministries are still a huge thing, especially among the IFB set.