The Roma are one of the largest minorities in Europe and live throughout Eurasia. In 2019, God launched a spiritual awakening among the Roma in the Caucasus. A local mission team has been working in this ethnic group ever since. In September 2023 we visited the work to train and support the mission team.
The Roma are an ethnic group spread throughout Eurasia. They are a nomadic people originally from the Indian region. Alone in There are around 500 Roma living in Russia with an Orthodox, animist or Muslim background. They live in clan communities and the men and women sometimes work separately from their families for several months (3-9 months a year). Many of the families make a living from trading scrap metal, which they collect with carts in regions and then sell to recycling centers. The ethnic group has developed many traditions that also regulate how they live together. Some are exciting and socially important, others lead to many hardships and are problematic. These include, for example, the often lack of education due to early school leaving or teenage weddings, in which some people under the age of 16 are married.
Overview of existing Roma work
The Roma are socially isolated and unreached by the gospel of the Kingdom of God. BUT…they are very open to Jesus. Now God has opened a door into this isolated people group in the North Caucasus. A local mission team has been working among the Roma since 2018. God has given a great spiritual awakening. In recent years there have been over Opened for Jesus to 2 people in the Caucasus region. Of these, 000 people have now been baptized. 150 Roma communities have now been developed. We have now traveled there in September 2023 to train and support the local mission team. The aim was to identify training gaps in the team and close them through modeling in the field. We also visited a few of the Roma communities to get an idea of the quality of conversions and discipleship processes. In the next few lines we would like to report on a few selected testimonials.
It all started with a phone call...
The story of this spiritual awakening began in 2018. One Woman contacted Christians. She shared that she and her entire family were very hungry for Jesus and wanted to learn more from him. The local mission team then visited the family. It was a special moment because Russians and Roma usually live very isolated from each other. It is unusual for these two ethnic groups to visit each other as guests. The team was able to serve within the family. They talked about Jesus, prayed for healing and deliverance for the people, and shared the gospel of the kingdom of God. Many in the family decided to accept Jesus and were baptized. Today this first Roma community counts 20 baptized people. They have opened the door to more communities. It is special that due to social isolation, the gospel spreads among the Roma mainly through relationships between Roma clans. The newly baptized testify with joy of how they experience the power of God (healings, deliverances, etc.). This then triggers a spiritual hunger in other clans, so they invite the local mission team.
The power of God opens a new Roma clan
As described above, the testimonies about the work of God's power open the doors to new communities. One story was very impressive for us: When a man visited a friendly Roma community in 2022, they prayed for him and he was freed from demons. It was a very profound experience for him, so much so that he told his family about his encounter with Jesus at home. He was like that He was filled with joy because he kept talking about Jesus. His family was very touched because the strong change was visible to them. He was completely changed. So they asked him to invite these Christians so that they too could learn more about Jesus. By the time the local mission team arrived, the story had already spread throughout the city. Almost every one of the approximately 20 residents had heard of the testimony and spoke about it. Not only Roma, but also Russians, which is something very unique. God worked so strongly during these days that the team stayed on site for 000 days. They talked about Jesus and prayed for the people. This is currently the community with the greatest spiritual awakening. In just a few months they have already baptized 40 people. The man is currently in another part of the country with his brother for several months collecting scrap metal and going from house to house. They use the time when they are not with their families to tell about Jesus in these houses.
Like in the book of Acts
During our time in the Caucasus, we visited some of the Roma communities with the local mission team. The goal was to pray for each of those baptized. The spiritual hunger was huge and we experienced it on multiple occasions Dynamics like we read in the Bible. The prayer times often lasted extremely long because more and more people came to the meetings. Several times we experienced that non-believers in the neighborhood were so attracted by the praise that they also came by and said that they wanted to follow Jesus. While praying, we were able to serve the baptized intensively. The Roma are often involved in occult practices and are often demonized. So we experienced many releases. A very impressive experience was when a married couple was freed from a demon. The release was intense, and as the man sat down in the room afterwards, he said with joy and relief, "I feel so light“…his change was visible to all. His wife burst into tears of relief. She said that her husband had previously had repeated misfires and hit her and her children. She noticed her husband's change immediately. Another man said that after being freed from demons, it felt like his blood was now boiling. He was visibly newly filled with the Holy Spirit. These are just a few testimonies that show how powerfully the Holy Spirit works in mission among the Roma.
We are looking for mission partners
In the last 4 years God has begun to work a revival among the Roma in the Caucasus. Over 2 Roma have opened themselves to Jesus, of which more than 000 have now been baptized. It's huge. Now it is important to continue to support the local mission team so that this spiritual awakening becomes one sustainable discipleship movement that continues to reproduce itself independently. With your financial support you are setting us free to carry out apostolic work among unreached people groups. The local mission team supports itself independently and does not receive any wages (or similar). In this work, costs arise for training, mentoring and the mobility of the team. Thanks for your support. It is the time when the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is brought to the Roma!
Thank you for being a mission partner
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