Russian Christians reaching out during this time of mourning

Russia (MNN) — An organization that supports evangelical Christians in Russia is rushing to the aid of those affected by the terrorist kidnapping and killing of hundreds of children and adults in Beslan last week.

Slavic Gospel Association is the official representative of the Union of Evangelical Christians Baptists in North America. SGA’s Joel Griffith says they will be working through one of their churches. “This church is only located a very short distance from the actual school. And, there were a lot of children from this Beslan Baptist church that were attending this school. And, also their Sunday school had quite an outreach to children.”
The death toll could reach 500 according to Baptist leaders on the ground. Griffith says there’s a reason the death toll isn’t exact. “One of the reasons we have so many missing among the children and adults is that a lot of them have been take to hospitals outside this region and of course with the borders sealed nobody’s able to get in and out, they aren’t really able to get a totally accurate count of the number of missing.”

SGA has established a crisis fund to help with the needs of the victims of this church and others. Griffith says the incredible thing about this incident is that the church having an impact. “Even while they’re grieving and even while they’re burying their dead, at the same time they realize that this is an opportunity to show the love of Christ and the hope of the Gospel. They want to try to help tangibly, but also what best way can they provide spiritual comfort and direction and the hope of the Gospel to these people”

If you’d like to help go to http://www.sga.org.