Christians are reaching out to orphans in the CIS.

CIS (MNN) — The program is called, “Christmas for Orphans” and it’s giving Christians in the Commonwealth of Independent States a chance to reach out with the Gospel.

Slavic Gospel Association’s Tom MacAdam says, “There are an estimated 700,000 orphans across the former Soviet Union and many of them never have heard the Gospel and so we’re giving (national believers) an opportunity to go into the orphanages and conduct a special evangelistic Christmas programs for the kids.”

The program was officially launched by SGA last year. MacAdam say your help is needed right now to, “Provide each child in the orphanage with a wrapped gift, some Russian language Christian literature or a children’s Bible if they didn’t have one, and some warm clothing items. And, we (are) able to do that for $16 per child. We started last year and then we’re expanding this year with a goal of reaching 10,000 children in about 50 orphanages.”

The goal for SGA is to ultimately see these children come to Christ, but also to allow members of the local evangelical churches, “to be able to return and visit these children on a regular basis so that they can continue to offer Bible lessons to them, offer opportunities to grow in their faith as they receive Christ and to be available to them,” says MacAdam.

Your $80 gift can provide a “Christmas for Orphan” gift for five children. To get involved contact Slavic Gospel Association at 800-Bible-50 or write them at 6151 Commonwealth Drive, Loves Park, IL 61111. You can also go their web site at www.sga.org.