Prayer and Preparations for Project Hope

Give now are receive our 2010 wall calendar

Christians in Russia and Ukraine are making final preparations for Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange. Young Next Generation Christians in Russia and parts of Ukraine are now filling gift boxers with Christmas presents containing everything from art supplies to small toys. Each gift also includes a children’s Bible and/or Christian literature geared for kids.

Pray for the outreach efforts, that many children and families in need will discover the truth of the gospel and the love of Jesus Christ.

If you haven’t already done so, it’s not too late to give to Project Hope and help bring the good news of Jesus to a child. Make your gift today—it’s one gift that won’t be returned and will last forever.

Give a gift to Russian Ministries now, and we will send you our beautiful 2010 wall calendar (while supplies last).

Russia and other nations discuss nuclear arms, hoping for a more stable world.

A country mourns when a fire roars through a club in the city of Perm and 113 people are killed in the blaze.

A bomb explodes in a busy marketplace in Grozny, Chechnya.

And every night, in large urban cities in Russia and Ukraine, four-five million children and teenagers sleep on the streets.

Where is the peace, the hope for Russia and the other countries of the former Soviet Union this Christmas?

This year, the hope of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, will come for 50,000 orphans, street kids and needy children and their families as hundreds of young Next Generation Christian leaders give out Christmas gifts, filled with small presents and a children’s Bible or Christian literature.

These gifts of hope and peace have helped build bridges between young Christian leaders from Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia and Muslim families in Grozny, Chechnya in past Christmases—and will again this year through Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange.

After clearing all the border checks in North Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya, the team of young Christian leaders enjoyed re-connecting with children they knew from Russian Ministries’ evangelistic summer camp in Grozny as well as meeting new children and their parents.

“The parents express joy and gratitude that we don’t forget them,” explains one of Russian Ministries’ young Christian leaders, “and that we come to show them our love and share in the fate of the Chechen nation, which has experienced the horrors of a decade of war, and the trauma still remains in the minds, souls and hearts of the children and adults.”

A gift to Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange will help Russian Ministries’ young Next Generation Christian leaders bring the hope and peace of Jesus to Russia’s hurting and needy children this Christmas.

CLICK HERE TO GIVE TO PROJECT HOPE.

All across Russia, national evangelical churches and young Next Generation Christians will bring Christmas hope to 50,000 orphans and needy children through Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange.

This Christmas hope will reach children like Pasha, whose home is a tuberculosis hospital.

When Russian Ministries’ Next Generation Christians arrived at the hospital to celebrate Christmas with the children, all of them happily gathered, ready to play games, watch Christmas skits and open the presents their guests had brought with them.

Except for Pasha. He sat by himself, staring out the window. Soon Elena, one of the young Christian leaders, noticed Pasha. “I took a gift and told Pasha that Jesus loved him very much and prepared this gift for him. Pasha nodded, took the gift from me and walked away,” recalled Elena.

As the boy walked away, Elena noticed that he walked with a limp. The orphanage staff explained that Pasha’s mother didn’t want him, and had injected him with a concoction that adversely effected him as a baby.

“Now Pasha has problems with his eyes and one of his legs has grown at all,” Elena sadly reports. “He was close to his father, but he died from TB a few years ago.”

As dismayed as she was by Pasha’s story, Elena took heart in the opportunity she had to be a part of Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange.

“I am so thankful to God that He gives us a chance to tell theses chldren about His love and bring them hope and joy!”

Soon, national evangelical churches, School Without Walls students and other young Next Generation Christian leaders will be preparing Christmas presents for 50,000 orphans and needy children.

But Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange is more than delivering presents. It’s about building relationships in which Christmas hope—the hope of Jesus—is communicated through a loving touch, a friendly conversation, and above all, through God’s Word.

You can have a part in making Christmas a reality for children like Pasha all across Russia.
• A gift of $25 will provide one gift that includes small presents and a children’s Bible.
• A gift of $50 will provide two gifts and two children’s Bibles.
• A gift of $100 will provide four gifts and four children’s Bibles.

Make a secure online gift to Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange, and start helping Russian Christians get ready for Christmas today!

Russian Ministries appreciated the School Without Walls students who were involved with Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange this year, working with their local churches to bring the good news of Jesus’ birth to hurting children and families this Christmas.

We thank God that over 30,000 Christmas presents and children’s Bibles were given away this Christmas through Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange.

To the Least of These
As soon as Svetlana* entered the house, she knew she wouldn’t hear joyful laughter or see a sparkling Christmas tree. Instead, on the sofa, a mother huddled under dirty rags in a drunken stupor. The elderly grandmother wasn’t in better shape either.

The only child home at the time was ten-year-old Tamara, who immediately hid behind her bedroom curtain when she saw Svetlana.

Svetlana and Tamara

Svetlana followed her into the room, where Tamara busied herself with her meager possessions, and then hung a few homemade ornaments on a small Christmas tree.

“Tamara, here is a Christmas present for you.” Svetlana held out one of the Project Hope presents that Russian believers had carefully and prayerfully filled and wrapped.

“But I have everything I need,” replied Tamara, without looking at Svetlana.
This compassionate young Christian leader was dumbfounded. All she saw was a cold wood stove, wet firewood and dirty pots.

Svetlana and the other Next Generation Christians with her did leave behind the Christmas presents as well as dry firewood, warm blankets, clothes and food, and as Svetlana left, she prayed, “Lord, only with You is it possible to have everything! Your light shines in darkness. Pour out your light on this house, in these hearts, so that they can understand that there is nothing more important than knowing Jesus, who gives us everything!”

*not her real name

We are praising God for the great start to Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange. We are especially encouraged by the generosity of God’s people during these tough economic times.

We would like this project to finish well this Christmas season, by making it possible for 30,000 at-risk children from war-ravaged South Ossetia to the remote far north to the crowded streets of Moscow to receive Christmas presents and Bibles from hundreds of young Next Generation Christians.

You can support these young Next Generation Christian leaders with a gift to Project Hope. For just $25.00, you can help provide a Christmas gift and a Bible for one child. To make a gift to Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange, click here.

Your gift to Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange will bring Christmas hope and joy to needy children and their families such as those who live in Russia’s far north.

Residents of the small village of Salemal in Russia’s far north region of Yamel vividly remember when the Internat, a state-run boarding school, burned down a few years ago. Eight precious lives were lost as young children and school staff escaped the flaming building.

When young Next Generation Christians from Salekhard heard about the tragedy, they traveled to the village bringing aid as well as hope and comfort to the parents still grieving the loss of their children.

At that time, several families heard the gospel, trusted Jesus, and a new church began in that village. One couple whose son perished in the fire even had a new baby they had named Nadezhda, which means “hope” in Russia.

Eventually a new Internat was built to replace the one that had burned, and new houses were built for parents who had lost their children.

Christmas hope came to that village when young Next Generation Christians visited the new school, their arms filled with packages—and in each Christmas present was a children’s Bible.

These presents, lovingly and carefully packed by young Next Generation Christian leaders and local evangelical churches, were part of Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange.

This Christmas, young Next Generation Christians all across Russia will once again share the good news of Jesus’ birth with 30,000 at-risk children through Project Hope: the Great Gift Exchange. These are children who have been abandoned by their parents and live in orphanages or roam the streets of Moscow and other urban centers—children who need the hope of Christmas.

For those who live in the Chicago area, Russian Ministries and WMBI Chicago are working together to feature Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange 2008 on 90.1FM, now through December 19.

We encourage you to listen to WMBI throughout the day as the station features Project Hope, including an interview with Anita Deyneka, president of Russian Ministries, at 10:00, Thursday, December 11 and Sergey Rakhuba, senior vice-president, on the morning show on Monday, December 15.

Read an interview with Sergey Rakhuba on Mission Network News.