No Title

--Type Title Here--

Gypsy!

The very word causes many people to recoil and then, from the depths of their memories, recall some lurid and probably, untrue story. Yet the average person knows very little about this often hated and despised group of people. Their preconcieved notions have been based on childish rhymes and poems. Have you ever heard this one:

My mother said I never should play with the Gypsies in the wood.

If I did she would say - "Naughty little girl to disobey."

The wood was dark, the grass was green,

In came Sally with the tambourine.

I went to sea - no ship to get across,

I paid ten shillings for a blind white horse,

I was up on his back and was off in a crack,

Sally tell my mother I shall never come back.

Since medieval times Gypsies have been accused of stealing children and various other crimes on the assumption that you can always blame the dirty Gypsy regardless whether he is guilty or not. My own fascination with Romani people started when I first came across a poem in school -

I wish I lived in a caravan

With a horse to drive like a Gypsy man,

Where he comes from nobody knows,

Or where he goes to but on he goes.

What a wonderful life of freedom, I thought, little knowing that one day I would marry a techino Romani chail (a Gypsy man) and experience with him the life I'd dreamed of, together with the hatred, rejection and false accusations that are so much part of his heritage. To-day we live in a little house not far from the Gypsy stone in Epping Forest, which is the memorial to Rodney Smith MBE the well-known evangelist, Sonnie's grandfather. When we have guests we often take them to visit this beautiful and tranquil spot, and I never tire of hearing him describe the scenes when the nearby plain was filled with people who had come to listen to the old Gypsy preach and sing. When asked why he did not go to his own people Gypsy Smith would say that it was not time yet. NOW is the appointed time and of the 80,000 Roms in this country some 6,000 are Christians. REVIVAL HAS COME TO THE GYPSIES! Much has already been done to take the Good News of Jesus Christ to the Romani people but there is so much more we can do.

Gypsies For Christ is an inter-denominational mission which was founded on the 31st of May 1975 and its primary aim is to reach Gypsies with the gospel, to promote fellowship and co-ordinate with other Christians working with Gypsies in a similar way. We began to work with GFC about ten years ago and soon realised that we would need to have our own marquee and other equipment. So, our personal response to the Decade of Evangelism was to buy a caravan and put the Romani Gospel Wagon on the road. In October 1993 we were approached by GFC and asked to take over that organisation and now we have Gypsies For Christ travelling with the Romani Gospel Wagon, seeking to serve the Lord at home and abroad by going out to the highways and hedges to bring the people in as Jesus told us to do. We know that the Gospel changes people, that it is the power of God which can transform the human condition but there is still much misunderstanding and confusion to be overcome. The Gypsies are a proud people with their own culture, customs, moral code and mode of dress. They speak their own language, form an ethnic minority and are an identifiable people group. In fact the 40 million plus Gypsy population forms one of the largest unreached people groups in the world. In this country new legislation aimed at controlling the movements of New Age Travellers has had a detrimental effect on the life style of the true Romanis chiefly in the loss of their traditional camp sites. In the eastern bloc countries Gypsies have been forced to settle and live in appalling conditions, and many from Poland and Romania have come to England seeking refugee status. We do our best to visit and befriend any of these we meet, and to teach them some basic English. Many of these Gypsies are literate, but in this country literacy is a severe problem. So, in 1994 we joined forces with the Scriture Gift Mission to produce a booklet in Anglo-Romanese entitled 'The Drom' (The Way) which is the story of the prodigal son. We have been able to distribute this booklet at a mission in east London and at Priddy Fair in Somerset. It has been very popular and will hope it will create interest among the Gypsies in preserving their own language. Since there is an English translation of the text on each page we have also given copies to Gypsy children who are learning English at school in Balarus. The nomadic way of life can often be an asset to evangelism. When Mary became a Christian she gave up forking (selling 'lucky heather' from door to door). Now she comes round the houses with pot plants or baskets of flowers. She always asks for a supply of booklets to give out as she jells on the drom (goes on her way) and she told me the other day that many are coming to the Lord. Gypsies are secretive and suspicious by nature but to make a friend of a Gypsy is to have a friend for life.

Where, you may ask, do Gypsies come from? Some say Egypt and others say they originated from India. Certainly their language comes from the north-western part of the Indian sub-continent and is closely related to Punjabi and Hindi. Many of their customs and rituals resemble the laws and commandments of the Old Testament and there is a great affinity with the Jewish people. However this remains an area of speculation. A little known fact is that 400,000 died during the war in Hitler's concentration camps in such dreadful conditions that we shudder to think of them. When the Gypsy population is compared with the Jews of that period proportionately as many died as in the Holocast. As the hearts of Christians go out to these despised, rejected and suffering people wherever they are, our prayer should be that prejudice towards them is transformed by Christ into an ardent desire to see all Gypsies brought into the love and security of the kingdom of God.

Last year GFC travelled to Tirgu Mures in Romania, and during our short stay there we visited seven Gypsy villages and shared with the people, as best we could the message that they were not forgotten but loved by God whose grace is sufficient for all our needs. Everywhere we went we wore our blue tee-shirts with the GFC logo - a wagon wheel with a cross superimposed. The Gypsies or Tigane as they are called here could readily identify with this symbol of their life and culture and we were soon made the first two members from abroad of the Gypsy organisation Fundatia Chakkra (Chakkra means wheel). We have continued to help this organisation in their work with the tigane by sending them a small grant every month, and now they have a telephone in their tiny office.

July 1995 we travelled to Milan to represent the English Gypsies at the convention organised by the International Romani Evangelical Mission Centre based in Paris. Thousands of Gypsies attended from all over Europe and as far away as South America. There was wonderful singing, preaching and testimony in every meeting and the huge marquee was full to overflowing.We were delighted to see Kikki, a lad we'd met in Romania, wearing his red steward's badge, helping in the marquee. The convention ended with a baptismal service during which seventy people were baptised - men in one large paddling pool and women in another - at opposite ends of the tent. Sadly we had run out of film by that time. Later in the year we travelled across to Belarus to visit the Gypsies in Minsk, Vitebesk and Barranovichi. It was an interesting experience to go to the underground churches and to see the problems Christians face there. The letters that had been sent to arrange our itinery had never arrived so in several cases we were not expected, but we did meet up with many Gypsy families and were able to minister to them in their homes. We knew that the Lord had every thing in control. On our way home we were helped at the border by a group of young racketeers who were smuggling vodka into Poland! They helped us to fill in our forms and even offered to share their food with us. We had travelled about six thousand miles and were looking forward to catching the ferry home when we entered the Kennedy Tunnel outside Antwerp. Suddenly a huge lorry with trailer attached began to overtake us and hit the side of our vehicle. We believe that disaster was only averted by the presence of our guardian angels and we praise God for his protection over all our travels. Miraculously we got to Ostend in time to catch the ferry.

On our return to England we went down to Priddy in Somerset to join Martin and Michele Gillmore and establish a Christian presence at the fair. It was hard work getting the marquee up as we were exhausted after the trip across Europe, but finally, with the help of some Christian Gypsies there, we got it done. The folowing day it poured and folk came in to shelter in our tent. Our little team of four was supported by the local Gideons and other friends and wellwishers, and many bibles, testaments, Droms and other pieces of literature were given away. One old partially sighted Gypsy man who came in to shelter and rest in the marquee committed his life to the Lord as the result of a conversation he had with one of the workers, And, miraculously the Gideons had one large print bible in the box to give to him! What can we say but PRAISE THE LORD!

When God made the Gypsies,

He said that we should roam,

There would be no need for houses,

For the world would be our home.

He would give us grass so green,

He would give the sky so blue,

He would give the evening sunset,

And the early morning dew.

He would give us lots of laughter,

And He'd also give us pain.

For every time the sun shines,

There must also be the rain.

The Gorgios may not love us,

As long as we're in this land -

But of one thing I am certain

God will always hold our hand.

And, so I say to you, my friend,

No matter where you roam -

God will always keep His promise

And we'll always have a home.

HOME by Robbie Johnson, The Suffolk Gypsy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gypsies For Christ Travelling With The Romani Gospel Waggon

A member of the Evangelical Alliance

Registered Charity No 273789

Please press your BACK button to return


	--Type Title Here-- Gypsy! The very word causes many people to recoil and then, from the depths of their memories, recall some lurid and probably, untrue story. Yet the average person knows very little about this often hated and despised group of people. Their preconcieved notions have been based on childish rhymes and poems. Have you ever heard this one: My mother said I never should play with the Gypsies in the wood. If I did she would say - "Naughty little girl to disobey." The wood was dark, the grass was green, In came Sally with the tambourine. I went to sea - no ship to get across, I paid ten shillings for a blind white horse, I was up on his back and was off in a crack, Sally tell my mother I shall never come back. Since medieval times Gypsies have been accused of stealing children and various other crimes on the assumption that you can always blame the dirty Gypsy regardless whether he is guilty or not. My own fascination with Romani people started when I first came across a poem in school - I wish I lived in a caravan With a horse to drive like a Gypsy man, Where he comes from nobody knows, Or where he goes to but on he goes. What a wonderful life of freedom, I thought, little knowing that one day I would marry a techino Romani chail (a Gypsy man) and experience with him the life I'd dreamed of, together with the hatred, rejection and false accusations that are so much part of his heritage. To-day we live in a little house not far from the Gypsy stone in Epping Forest, which is the memorial to Rodney Smith MBE the well-known evangelist, Sonnie's grandfather. When we have guests we often take them to visit this beautiful and tranquil spot, and I never tire of hearing him describe the scenes when the nearby plain was filled with people who had come to listen to the old Gypsy preach and sing. When asked why he did not go to his own people Gypsy Smith would say that it was not time yet. NOW is the appointed time and of the 80,000 Roms in this country some 6,000 are Christians. REVIVAL HAS COME TO THE GYPSIES! Much has already been done to take the Good News of Jesus Christ to the Romani people but there is so much more we can do. Gypsies For Christ is an inter-denominational mission which was founded on the 31st of May 1975 and its primary aim is to reach Gypsies with the gospel, to promote fellowship and co-ordinate with other Christians working with Gypsies in a similar way. We began to work with GFC about ten years ago and soon realised that we would need to have our own marquee and other equipment. So, our personal response to the Decade of Evangelism was to buy a caravan and put the Romani Gospel Wagon on the road. In October 1993 we were approached by GFC and asked to take over that organisation and now we have Gypsies For Christ travelling with the Romani Gospel Wagon, seeking to serve the Lord at home and abroad by going out to the highways and hedges to bring the people in as Jesus told us to do. We know that the Gospel changes people, that it is the power of God which can transform the human condition but there is still much misunderstanding and confusion to be overcome. The Gypsies are a proud people with their own culture, customs, moral code and mode of dress. They speak their own language, form an ethnic minority and are an identifiable people group. In fact the 40 million plus Gypsy population forms one of the largest unreached people groups in the world. In this country new legislation aimed at controlling the movements of New Age Travellers has had a detrimental effect on the life style of the true Romanis chiefly in the loss of their traditional camp sites. In the eastern bloc countries Gypsies have been forced to settle and live in appalling conditions, and many from Poland and Romania have come to England seeking refugee status. We do our best to visit and befriend any of these we meet, and to teach them some basic English. Many of these Gypsies are literate, but in this country literacy is a severe problem. So, in 1994 we joined forces with the Scriture Gift Mission to produce a booklet in Anglo-Romanese entitled 'The Drom' (The Way) which is the story of the prodigal son. We have been able to distribute this booklet at a mission in east London and at Priddy Fair in Somerset. It has been very popular and will hope it will create interest among the Gypsies in preserving their own language. Since there is an English translation of the text on each page we have also given copies to Gypsy children who are learning English at school in Balarus. The nomadic way of life can often be an asset to evangelism. When Mary became a Christian she gave up forking (selling 'lucky heather' from door to door). Now she comes round the houses with pot plants or baskets of flowers. She always asks for a supply of booklets to give out as she jells on the drom (goes on her way) and she told me the other day that many are coming to the Lord. Gypsies are secretive and suspicious by nature but to make a friend of a Gypsy is to have a friend for life. Where, you may ask, do Gypsies come from? Some say Egypt and others say they originated from India. Certainly their language comes from the north-western part of the Indian sub-continent and is closely related to Punjabi and Hindi. Many of their customs and rituals resemble the laws and commandments of the Old Testament and there is a great affinity with the Jewish people. However this remains an area of speculation. A little known fact is that 400,000 died during the war in Hitler's concentration camps in such dreadful conditions that we shudder to think of them. When the Gypsy population is compared with the Jews of that period proportionately as many died as in the Holocast. As the hearts of Christians go out to these despised, rejected and suffering people wherever they are, our prayer should be that prejudice towards them is transformed by Christ into an ardent desire to see all Gypsies brought into the love and security of the kingdom of God. Last year GFC travelled to Tirgu Mures in Romania, and during our short stay there we visited seven Gypsy villages and shared with the people, as best we could the message that they were not forgotten but loved by God whose grace is sufficient for all our needs. Everywhere we went we wore our blue tee-shirts with the GFC logo - a wagon wheel with a cross superimposed. The Gypsies or Tigane as they are called here could readily identify with this symbol of their life and culture and we were soon made the first two members from abroad of the Gypsy organisation Fundatia Chakkra (Chakkra means wheel). We have continued to help this organisation in their work with the tigane by sending them a small grant every month, and now they have a telephone in their tiny office. July 1995 we travelled to Milan to represent the English Gypsies at the convention organised by the International Romani Evangelical Mission Centre based in Paris. Thousands of Gypsies attended from all over Europe and as far away as South America. There was wonderful singing, preaching and testimony in every meeting and the huge marquee was full to overflowing.We were delighted to see Kikki, a lad we'd met in Romania, wearing his red steward's badge, helping in the marquee. The convention ended with a baptismal service during which seventy people were baptised - men in one large paddling pool and women in another - at opposite ends of the tent. Sadly we had run out of film by that time. Later in the year we travelled across to Belarus to visit the Gypsies in Minsk, Vitebesk and Barranovichi. It was an interesting experience to go to the underground churches and to see the problems Christians face there. The letters that had been sent to arrange our itinery had never arrived so in several cases we were not expected, but we did meet up with many Gypsy families and were able to minister to them in their homes. We knew that the Lord had every thing in control. On our way home we were helped at the border by a group of young racketeers who were smuggling vodka into Poland! They helped us to fill in our forms and even offered to share their food with us. We had travelled about six thousand miles and were looking forward to catching the ferry home when we entered the Kennedy Tunnel outside Antwerp. Suddenly a huge lorry with trailer attached began to overtake us and hit the side of our vehicle. We believe that disaster was only averted by the presence of our guardian angels and we praise God for his protection over all our travels. Miraculously we got to Ostend in time to catch the ferry. On our return to England we went down to Priddy in Somerset to join Martin and Michele Gillmore and establish a Christian presence at the fair. It was hard work getting the marquee up as we were exhausted after the trip across Europe, but finally, with the help of some Christian Gypsies there, we got it done. The folowing day it poured and folk came in to shelter in our tent. Our little team of four was supported by the local Gideons and other friends and wellwishers, and many bibles, testaments, Droms and other pieces of literature were given away. One old partially sighted Gypsy man who came in to shelter and rest in the marquee committed his life to the Lord as the result of a conversation he had with one of the workers, And, miraculously the Gideons had one large print bible in the box to give to him! What can we say but PRAISE THE LORD! When God made the Gypsies, He said that we should roam, There would be no need for houses, For the world would be our home. He would give us grass so green, He would give the sky so blue, He would give the evening sunset, And the early morning dew. He would give us lots of laughter, And He'd also give us pain. For every time the sun shines, There must also be the rain. The Gorgios may not love us, As long as we're in this land - But of one thing I am certain God will always hold our hand. And, so I say to you, my friend, No matter where you roam - God will always keep His promise And we'll always have a home. HOME by Robbie Johnson, The Suffolk Gypsy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gypsies For Christ Travelling With The Romani Gospel Waggon A member of the Evangelical Alliance Registered Charity No 273789 © Copyright 2000 Please press your BACK button to return