Playing, preaching, sharing...

This week we brought in Jenga.   It kept the children going for ages.  We need two more games at least.  Plus more workers!

The women folk enjoy the chance to sit and catch up week by week.

"Who are these?"  "My mum and my dad?"
"What is the little person on mum?"
"It's Jesus living in her heart!"

 "From the mouths of babes you have declared your praise!"

Stevo preaches...
...the curse in the garden of Eden is finally overcome by the One who was able to open the seal on the scroll, Jesus, the Lamb of God, willing to take the curse on himself that we all might be saved!  ...in Christ there is neither Rom nor Gadjo

Martin shares......the water level of the Spirit of God is rising week by week and now up to the neck (Ezekiel 47). Today we became a church.

Help needed with kids!

The loan of a minibus from another church made it possible this week to pick up lots of Roma and ferry them to church.  For them it was a whole lot of fun.  Somewhat scary for me driving a 15 seater for the first time.  This week no dads rolled up and the kids were wild to the point that my attempts to tell the story of Abraham were lost.  I don't think it would have been much easier even in English.  We urgently need a team of skilled people with a heart for bright, sparky Roma kids.  Anyone out there reading this... please let me have your ideas.   When the London team come [next week] the problem of discipline is overcome by the sheer power, volume and passion of the presentation. Something a single gadjio man of 59 can't really match.  Praying this morning, I laid it before God: "tell me if I should back off and recognise that humanly speaking this ministry is impossible for me to fulfill.  The answer came back instantly and unequivocally:  "Who will go, if you don't go?"  "Noone it seems".  "Who will go for me then?"  "Lord, send me!"  

It never ceases to strike me that what I perceive to be massive problems, the Roma seem to regard as minor issues, or even just life as normal.  I continue to import my alien values, and continue to be shocked into wiping my slate clean.  The Roma women spot it when I start falling apart; they gather round me and lift me up... sometimes in prayer.  The kids welcome me like the pied piper without me doing anything other than pitching up.  This is at once the easiest and the toughest ministry on the planet.  Success and failure constantly kiss, leaving me both wrung out and energised.  

Roma guys drawn in...

Week by week we ferry in Roma families from their homes to the service.  Although the Roma guys have cars in some cases, they never seem available.  This week as we were being led in worship by Stevo and his London team, a whole group of Roma guys suddenly came in and sat down.  It seemed they had come along to make fun of the whole thing.  After a few minutes they left.  One Roma guy who was there for the right reason followed them out. I joined him and together we managed to persuade the guys to come back in.  They listened very seriously now.  A powerful message was coming from the front.  We become acceptable to God not through what we do or what we abstain from, but alone by the blood of Jesus. Some time later the altar call brought forward several guys as well as all the women and children.  About 55 showed up this week - many drifting in and out.  This week we had Rennie and John from York with us. They have been praying fervently for LRC since we started.  Their presence was a huge encouragement as they got stuck in helping in ways practical and spiritual.

Meanwhile, we've decided to take the English teaching back into homes and to start the Wednesday evening later.  Many Roma families are glued to an Indian soup up till 6.30pm.  I was so slow to spot this!   Another thing we leant this week was that Indian food is simply too spicy for the Roma.  The local Pakistani man who did the cooking was briefed this time, but it was still too hot!  Only the English guests couldn't get it hot enough!

Last Saturday I was involved at the launch in Luton of "Healing on the Streets" - over 60 of us had been trained to carry out this ministry.  I met and prayed for two Roma guys who had been busking on violins in the street.  One came along to my Sunday church.  Sadly many Roma seem more suspicious of other Roma than they do of the gadgios.  It will take a move at the level of the Spirit to break down these walls of isolation and fear. But the first fruits are just visible of the Roma telling each other that they have their own church here in Luton now.

Noah's ark becomes church

We broke into the third story today at LRC - "The Flood".  I made an ark of chairs and told the story of Noah standing within the ark.   The ark then became "church" - the place of holiness, separate from a world of sin and rebellion.  I wondered what would then happen when I invited them to enter the ark if they wanted to.  All but two came in and we prayed for each person in turn anointing them with oil.  There could be no doubt of the spiritual hunger, especially the desire for spiritual healing for all the pain of the years - years of wandering across Europe in the hope of finding a life worth living.  A lad of 9 had helped me do the translation work for the story sitting in the garden of our local pub as his parents washed cars. He posed the fascinating question: "did the snake enter the ark?" The Roma have a fearful fascination with snakes.   He learnt his excellent English in Ireland and now we're seeking schools for him and his siblings.  The service was followed tonight by wonderful Roma food - "galushti" or "salmale" - we had spent 30 minutes searching for the right kind of cabbage finally to find it in Lydl.  All the food went fast and we are going to have to increase the quantities.

Meanwhile, God helped one family find just enough work to pay the £700 monthly rent and avoid eviction.  "Seek first the Kingdom of God..." - they're just beginning to get the link between faith and provision - "ask and you will receive".  But I always feel I'm walking a theological tight-rope with these verses.  The dangers of preaching a prosperity Gospel are never far away:  "just believe and come to church and your material needs will all fall away!"  This is just a whiff away from heresy, and risks setting up people for later disappointment and subsequent loss of faith.  However, to fail to speak of a God who is poised ready to bless those who turn to him in their deepest need, would be equally irresponsible.  

The invitation to come to worship has to be unconditional.  This isn't easy to achieve, especially when you find a TV and a whole audio system for a guy who rolls up at church to pick it up, and then disappears happily in his car.  But Jesus never put any kind of pressure on folk to follow him.  The worst possible mistake would be to offer people material rewards for attending.  We have to leave God room to reveal himself.   This happened in a special way tonight.  The black sheep of the community came sheepishly along.  He was welcomed by all present.  It must have cost him everything to walk in the door.  May God give him the courage to enter the ark of faith.

Word spreading

We've just had our fourth meeting and the word seems to be spreading through the Roma community that there's a Roma church here in Luton for them. However, they seem often embarased to invite others, leaving it to me to do. Growth can come quickly if one new family comes along with several kids. Since they have nowhere else in town they can meet, LRC is helping them form community and potentially lifting them out of isolation.  We're not managing to get over the imperative of English skills and so very few arrive in time for the English lessons.   But by the time the worship began we had c.35 there. I repeated the first of the 33 stories: "Beginning" and then moved onto "Curse".   Pulling out folk to be Adam and Eve gets the message over.  But so far, the idea of reflecting on the deeper meaning of the stories seems a long way off.  I think it'll come along the road of daily life.   People often say to me: "Martin!  Tu san dosh!"  "Martin it's all your fault!"  I respond drawing on the meaning of Genesis 3:  "Na! O sap, wo si dosh!"  "No, it's the snake's fault!" The story highlights how a blame culture can develop.  The work of translation is very fruitful as we have to excavate meaning and try to communicate it.  It would be great to have a set up visuals to back up each story.  

Meanwhile, there are always unexpected blessings.  The church windows and doors have been vandalised.  The Roma guys offered to repair them free of charge as a way of thanking the owners of the church for allowing us to use it.  Our food this week had been prepared with great pride by a Muslim couple who live a few yards from the church and who have a deep relationship with the Roma family next door.  In this way bridges are being built with those of other faiths in the area.   One major issue I'm having to face daily is that the Roma believe that I can snap my fingers and a NINO will appear in their hands, followed closely by benefits.  We have only achieved this so far for one person, and that had been a long and hard journey.  It is hard to avoid folk concluding that coming to church is what you have to do to get these blessings.