Christian group uses candy to recruit Fresno students, parents say. Here’s what we found

Reality Check is a Fresno Bee series holding those in power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email tips@fresnobee.com.

Some Fresno parents say a Christian group promises M&M chocolate to elementary school students who recruit peers to join an after-school club to learn about God and the Bible.

Parents of children attending Fresno Unified’s Starr Elementary said the group was allowed to distribute flyers during the school day and involve teachers and children in recruiting other students for the club. The group rents school library spaces to host its clubs and rewards kids with chocolate if they persuade other classmates to attend.

“We’re an atheist family,” said Tammy Johnson, a mother of a Starr Elementary fourth grader. “This religious group uses their peers to recruit more children to their ‘cause.’ My child is 9 years old, nobody should be having these conversations with my child but myself.”

The Good News Club, funded by the Child Evangelism Fellowship NorCal chapter, holds meetings at more than 30 elementary schools in the Fresno Unified district. For about an hour every week, volunteers lead children in learning about God and the Bible, memorizing the verses through songs and games.

The Child Evangelism Fellowship says it has hosted Good News Clubs at more than 80 Central Valley elementary schools, including in the Clovis and Madera public school districts, since 2003. CEF officials say they comply with all districts’ requirements and don’t allow students to participate without a signed permission slip from a parent or guardian.

“Are they (parents) also upset when they get flyers in the kids’ backpacks about a soccer club?” said Tammy Beers, director of the Child Evangelism Fellowship’s NorCal chapter.

Johnson says she and other parents were surprised to see their children come home with the club’s religious flyers that included references to God. The group says it’s allowed to use school facilities outside instructional hours, though Johnson took issue with her child receiving a club flyer during the school day.

Johnson said she was shocked at the organization’s curriculum which states club meetings include an “invitation,” in which students are asked if they believe in Jesus Christ as their savior and want to become Christian, and being rewarded snacks when recruiting their peers to join the club.

INSIDE THE ‘GOOD NEWS CLUB’

At Starr Elementary, the Good News Club meets every Tuesday afternoon in the school’s library.

At a club session this week attended by a Fresno Bee reporter, five elementary students along with four instructors chanted, “Jesus is the almighty god.” They sat in front of a TV displaying Bible verses and songs and dances praising God. Instructors showed copies of the Bible to the students.

“If you don’t have one at home, we can give you one for free,” one instructor said.

Instructors awarded students cookies and candies for answering questions about the Bible and participating in a verse-matching game.

Students were told that everyone has sinned.

“Have you ever disobeyed your mom and dad? Have you hit your siblings? Have your mom and dad said you’re not allowed to have dessert,” said an instructor. “That’s a sin. Sin is anything you say, do, or think that goes against what God wants.”

At the end of the session, the instructors took out a jar of M&M chocolates, and told students it stands for “Mighty Missionary.” Students were encouraged to distribute permission slips to their classmates. Whoever brought a new classmate to the club next week would receive a packet of M&M chocolates, an instructor told the students.

DISTRICT SAYS GROUP CAN USE FACILITIES

The Fresno Unified School District told The Bee that it has permitted the Child Evangelism Fellowship to rent spaces at multiple school sites and has reviewed its flyers and materials.

The school district allows groups not affiliated with Fresno Unified to apply to rent spaces on school property through a reservation system. Non-affiliated groups are allowed to distribute materials to students and staff as long as they don’t promote or contain “any type of discrimination, obscenity, illegal acts, or violation of school rules,” according to a district spokesperson.

This semester, Good News Clubs are running in 33 elementary schools, and the CEF is submitting more requests, Fresno Unified spokesperson A.J. Kato said in an email response to questions from The Bee.

Lynne Sherwood, one of the club’s four instructors at Starr Elementary, said the group received the school’s permission to host club meetings on campus. “We don’t take any kids without a permission slip, that’s our necessary thing,” she said.

Yellow flyers distributed by the group state that their activity is not sponsored by the school or district. Students from first to sixth grade may attend the club, regardless of religious background, with a signed permission slip. Parents can observe the meetings.

Sherwood said Tuesday’s meeting marked the Good News Club’s return to Starr Elementary since the pandemic. All instructors are volunteers who have been screened through background checks and completed a day of training from the Child Evangelism Fellowship about children’s safety and protection, Sherwood said.

The Good News Club at Starr Elementary had more than 20 participating students before the pandemic, Sherwood said.

“Because it was the first (meeting of the school year) and we just put it together, I know we will have more (kids),” Sherwood said. “Lots of kids do make a decision about their faith to accept Christ from this age in this nice place, or that they want to go to church, and we can recommend churches.”

A Supreme Court ruling in 2001 requires public schools to have facilities available to outside community groups. Last year, Clovis Unified School District board rescinded facility-use permissions for several groups, including Destination Imagination, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the Girl Scouts, after a local LGBTQ organization requested to use district facilities for meetings and events.

Earlier this year, some Clovis Unified parents accused the Fellowship of Christian Athletes of using free pizza to lure students to pray and talk about Jesus Christ during lunch. Though, unlike the Good News Club, the Clovis parents said they were not asked to sign permission slips.

PARENTS WEIGH IN

Jason Freeman, a Starr Elementary father, said he’s considering allowing his son to join the Good News Club. Freeman’s son came home with a flyer the week before. On a recent weekday afternoon, a club volunteer handed flyers outside the school’s entrance to parents picking up their schoolchildren.

Freeman said religious clubs have operated on Fresno public school campuses since the Starr Elementary father was an elementary student, himself.

“I can choose to send them or not, it’s not like they’re being forced to go to (the meetings) during school,” Freeman said. “That’s fair, it would be our choice.”

Silvia Remigio, a Starr Elementary mother, permitted her son to join the Good News Club because “the kids are learning.”

“I thought it was going to be fun to do something like that after school,” Remigio said.

Johnson, the concerned mom, doesn’t believe elementary-aged pupils are able to distinguish what they are learning in the classroom from credentialed teachers and “what they might learn on school grounds after hours as religious propaganda that merits scrutiny,” she said.

“I want my daughter to accept everyone, regardless of their religious background,” Johnson said.

This story was originally published September 21, 2024, 9:00 AM.