CEE Pray for Open New Doors
Ministries ready for short- and long-term commitment
Some call the Balkans the “cradle of the Romany presence in Europe.” In fact, of the approximately 12 million Roma living in this part of the world, a minimum of 2.2 million live in the Balkans, the southernmost region of Europe that includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. These are the people that Betty Easter, strategy coordinator for the Roma of South Europe (ROSE), is trying to reach with the Gospel of Christ.
Spread out over eight countries, the Balkan Roma present a formidable task for her team of two. Betty’s goal is to have 70 missionaries throughout the region in the next few years—her inspiration being the 70 Jesus sent out in Luke 10. Among the people groups in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the Roma have been some of the most responsive to the Gospel. God is at work and the door is wide open for ministry opportunities among the Roma.
Karen Blackburn, the second member of the ROSE team, comes from a medical background and wants to use her practical skills on the mission field. Karen has been in Macedonia only 10 months, but already has held several seminars. She has begun to observe some of the obstacles to good health in the Romany culture, including the excessive use of alcohol and tobacco, poor nutrition, lack of birth control and water that is high in calcium and hard on the kidneys—all problems that could be solved with proper education.
Through helping the Roma meet their physical needs Karen hopes to gain access to their hearts and lives and earn the right to share with them about the One who can meet their spiritual needs, as well. The ROSE team has partnered with a local Macedonian Christian medical clinic that is helping with outreach and follow-up. The needs are great, from pre-natal care to dentistry to emotional disorders. The door is open for volunteer medical teams to conduct clinics and teach basic facts about health to the Roma.
Similarly, Roma also have other basic needs. One example is Sejdo, a Romany man with diabetes. Due to a small wound on his foot that was not cared for, he got gangrene and lost his leg. Now Sejdo is wheelchair-bound, but his house is small, making it difficult for him to maneuver. Sejdo’s experience is not unusual—needs are widespread among the elderly and lame. The door is open for volunteers to come and make improvements on homes and shops so they can be handicap-friendly.
Betty and Karen have just begun an educational center named “Svetlonosets” (light-bearer) to meet another pressing need among the Roma—literacy training. Most Romany adults cannot read and are unable to compete in the job market, leading to widespread unemployment. Illiteracy is also a barrier to accepting the truth of the Gospel because Roma cannot read God’s Word. The educational center offers classes in reading and writing in the Macedonian and English languages. The door is open for teams to come and help teach English, train educated Roma how to teach their own people and assist in literacy programs.
Betty and Karen’s goal in all they do is to plant churches so many Roma can possess saving faith in Christ. As Roma come to know the Lord, discipleship is a great need; the Romany culture has many ingrained values that are contrary to biblical teaching. Roma need the discipleship and mentoring of mature believers to come alongside them as they are sanctified and changed by God’s grace. The Romany women typically are not honored or treated well—wife-beating is not only common, but expected by a real man—immorality is rampant, drinking and smoking are normal, gambling is a favorite pastime and a strong sense of ethical responsibility is absent. The door is wide open to hold conferences and seminars that teach about family relationships, Christian living and marriage.
The needs among the Roma create an open door for evangelical Christians to help and bring with them the Good News of Christ. To find out more about how you can be a part of what God is doing in the Balkans, write Betty at rose@everyheart.net.