The Slavic people groups can be found largely in Central and Eastern Europe, from the German border to the Ural Mountains in the east and throughout the regions of Siberia and the Russian Far East. These groups include the Russians, Ukrainians, Belarussians, Bulgarians, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks and Serbians. With some exceptions, they largely use the Cyrillic alphabet instead of the Latin alphabet used here in the West, and their languages have many similarities.
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is the official name which describes a loose confederation of twelve of the fifteen countries which formerly made up the Soviet Union. These countries include Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The Baltic nations of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia opted not to join the CIS when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.
The UECB was formed in 1867. Today, it is one of the largest and oldest Protestant denominations in the lands of Russia. As the name implies, its members are repentant, baptized believers in Jesus Christ as the only source of salvation through faith. There are more than 6,300 UECB churches across the CIS. Peter Mickiewicz serves as the president of the Russian UECB.
SGA formerly sent missionaries from here in North America to train and evangelize Russian-speaking people residing in the nations of the free world. Today, our focus is to sponsor national evangelical church planters who are sent by their own churches to unreached communities in the CIS. These church planters know the language, history, culture and other important dynamics of ministry to their people. The sponsoring of national evangelist-church planters is also the most cost-effective way to bring the Gospel into areas where no organized evangelical witness exists. At the request of UECB church leaders, our mission does send carefully selected North American pastors and Bible teachers on short-term teaching assignments to train pastoral students at SGA-sponsored Bible institutes and seminaries in the lands of Russia. These intensive sessions normally run for a 1-2 weeks at a time, and are of great value both to Russian pastors who lacked the opportunity to receive solid Bible teaching during the communist years, and to more recent disciples whom the Lord has set apart for leadership.
SGA is an interdenominational evangelical missions organization. We serve Bible-believing churches that are independent, as well as those affiliated with conservative denominations or fellowships. We are also members of the Interdenominational Foreign Missions Association and the Canadian Council for Christian Charities.
Though SGA is involved in supporting orphan ministries and orphanages in the lands of Russia, SGA does not assist in the adoption of children from the CIS.
Inspire Your Community
I would love to talk to your Church or Missions Committee, Men's Breakfast or event about what God is doing at SGA Canada.
Tom Tavani, Executive Director of Slavic Gospel Association (SGA) Canada, worked in corporate Toronto for many years and then by the grace of God Almighty, gave his life to Christ. Since then, Tom has made it his mission to use his skills for the good of the Christian community and Mission organizations in Canada. Tom and his wife Shannon have been together since the age of 14 years old and have four children. Tom has passion for people to know who Christ is and has served along several organizations such as Compassion Canada, Our Daily Bread Ministries and Reach Beyond Canada, formally HCJB Global. Tom has many years of leadership experience and loves to work with his team in the trenches as a servant for the Most High.
When you invite Tom to speak at your church or event, you get messages that:
- Inspire missional vision. Hear how God is powerfully at work at SGA Canada to meet the needs and deliver the gospel of Jesus Christ to many.
You can connect with me directly by email @ [email protected]