After hundreds of children and adults were killed in Beslan during the terrorist hostage crisis, Slavic Gospel Association, an organization that supports evangelical Christians in Russia, is rushing aid to those who were affected by the disaster.

The organization is the official representative of the Union of Evangelical Christians Baptists in North America. SGA’s Joel Griffith said that they will work with one of their churches which is in close proximity to the actual school. Many children from the Beslan Baptist church have attended the disaster-stricken school.

The death toll was rumored to reach 500 according to the reports of Baptist leaders. The reason why the number of deaths is not exact is that many children and adults were missing because they were taken to hospitals outside of the region of the sealed border; therefore an accurate count was not attainable.

A crisis fund was formed by SGA to help the needs of victims of this church and others. Griffith expressed that he was surprised that through this incident the church was able to find the opportunity to show the love of Christ and the hope of the Gospel while grieving and burying the dead. Although the church desired to help tangibly, the best way to help is to provide spiritual comfort and direction and the hope of the gospel to the people in grief.

If you would like to help, please go to http://www.sga.org.