Desparate Measures

"Whatever you do, do it with all your heart,
as unto the Lord and not to people"

 "We'll do anything to pay the rent!  Even move the vicar's grand-piano! And sort his garden!"

"Sar sogodi tume keren,
keren les lachi ilesa,
sar le Jesusoske
na sar le manushenge!"
Col 3:23

Pressure is building to pay the rent.  The guys will turn their hands to anything.  We set up a car wash near the pub near my church you can see above.  The only people that came were from the church.  It's so hard to find work when half of Luton is doing the same.

"You came seeking prosperity and are finding God!"

In the space of one week so much has happened, it's hard to keep up with what God is doing.  Last night at our third meeting Stevo challenged the Roma: "you may have come all the way from Romania to seek economic prosperity, but I believe you have been brought here to find God."   Towards the end of the service, he asked us all, "how do you know when the Holy Spirit has come? When the children start to weep."   That is just what had happened.  The day before some of us were praying together for one Roma lad's knee that he injured six months ago and has caused him constant pain and taken him off school.  At the service I asked him how the knee was now.  All the pain and swelling had gone.  Earlier in the week we were praying at another home.  One Roma woman who had recently been through a traumatic personal experience was visibly filled with the Spirit before our eyes.  She had been unable to speak and had frozen over emotionally.  She began to smile, and to speak again.  I was amazed at how instantly the change had come over her.  On the same occasion another Roma woman I had not met before shared the dream she had had the night before.  "I saw fire coming down from heaven to earth, and then a white horse appear."  When I told her this image was in the Bible she was amazed.  Revelation 19:11-18 makes clear that the white horse represents the judgment that Jesus brings to earth.  Nothing could have spoken more clearly into the situation going on in the community at this time.  There is a sense of awe in some of the Roma at what they are seeing God do in their midst.  They are beginning to see the extreme financial problems they face against the backdrop of a God who wants to touch first and foremost their hearts with his love.  But there has been a breakthrough on the material front too.  We have been battling away for over a year to get benefits for one widow.  She has just received her first payment. Without that she and her four children would have been evicted.  God has been at work on another front too.  At our meeting last night the local health councellor came along.  The guys gathered around him as he took a lung pollution reading on the Roma lady who is on the stop smoking programme.  "Your lungs had been full of pollution.  Look now, they are completely clear!"  The councellor advised others: "you need God's help to do this, not just the patches!"  This was interesting.  He is a Hindu. There is common ground we can share.  To grow our Roma church further one thing we need is more cars to bring the families in.  Or a bus!

What is success?

English Lessons - to get work in England! 

What is the measure of success in Christian mission?  The temptation is to do what the world does.  Count numbers.  Count smiley faces. Have an impressive story to pass on to others.   What impresses me most about Jesus' mission isn't about outward signs of success.  What is most attractive and compelling is the fact that he hung in with people however dysfunctional they were. "He loved them to the end." As I reflect on our fledgling Roma Church here in Luton, I realise that the greatest triumph is always to stay on course, even when the whole world seems to be falling apart around you.  Yesterday's second gathering was like this.  But amidst the chaos some beautiful things were germinating.  It would be easy to miss them. 

English Lessons - for fun! 

See here our first English lessons in our Roma church.  Richard has them eating out of his hand.  See also Ramona above teaching the adults English.  "Do you have any work for me to do?"  They need to know how to say things like this if they are going to hack it in England.  Using "gadjikanes" (Romanian, the second language of the Romanian Roma)  she is able to quickly get them speaking grammatical English. 
Meanwhile, during our worship we introduced the first of what will be 33 bible stories.  These cover the whole story of salvation from Genesis to Revelation, are only 3- 4 minutes long.  Developed for use with unreached people groups, the idea is to communicate the biblical message in the simplest and most memorable form possible. A few days earlier I had worked on the first story with a Roma mother and her two sons.  It took about and hour to make a rough translation into the actual dialect of Romani they speak.  This is an important point, as both vocab and grammar vary quite a lot from both Kalderash translations I am using.  But God seems to delight in entering into human limitations and forging something new.  My Romani and their English are both rudimentary and we are stretched to the limits.   But having read the story at our second gathering yesterday (see below), I invited them first to have a go at telling the story themselves in their words.  There's a lot of work to be done here, but what they pick out is always illuminating.  The joy at the dawn of creation - beauty emerging out of nothing-  the sadness that some of the angels chose to fall from glory -the first signs of disfunction in an otherwise perfect creation order.   I try to glimpse where we might be when a body of Roma here can tell the story of salvation in their own words using these simple stories.  The vision is important.  But infinitely more important is the question "what is success?"  Jesus alone embodies the answer.  "Whilst we were still sinners he died for us".   

This story is true. It was in the beginning. 

kade istoria si cheches. Sas ando gor.

There was noone on earth, 

but we know the truth through God's prophet.

Nas les khonik pe puv, numa ame jenas o chachimos lesko profeto.

In the beginning when there was nothing

there was only God.

Ando gor kana nas kanch, sas numa o del.

At that time only God existed.

Ando kado timpo  existilas numa o del

He was with together with his angels

Wo sas peske injerensa

The angels gave glory to God

Le injeri del gloria le develes

and helped him in his work

Hai ajutil le ande leski buchi

the angels sang joyfully

Le injeri gilabenas bokorime

God made the world as he wished

O del kerke la lumia sar wo kamle

(let me know if you would like the whole story!)

Luton Roma Church is Born!

Pastor Stevo & I pray for the Luton Roma

This evening 25 Luton Roma were joined by 20 Roma from London Gypsy Church and 10 non-Roma from Luton in Oakdale Methodist Church.  Having shared a meal, Pastor Stevo's amazing team led us in worship.  It was wonderful to have them with us at the launch of Luton Roma Church.  "Seek first the Kingdom of God" and life in abundance will flow from that.  The powerful sounds of our worship flowed out the broken window of the church as the call from the local Minaret was declining.  A new church has sprung to live in the heart of Islamic Luton.  It's members?  The poorest of the poor of bottom of the heap Luton.  On the brink of eviction, a Roma widow received her pin number for a post office account.  Will the benefits come in time?  If they come at all it will be a miracle.  "Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven".  Indeed, as  pastor Stevo reminded us, wealth does not promise peace of heart or absence of cares.  This week we were all blessed by bi-lingual preaching.  Next week I'll have to keep the show on the road!  Stevo's London team will lead us every fortnight.  Every Wednesday there will be Food/English lessons/Worship.  Holistic mission proceeds from a desire to bless every area of life.  Heaven and earth kiss when we see the Kingdom advance....

Easter Sunday Baptism

"And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:47)
 "There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent!"  (Luke 15:7)

For one Roma mother  of six children, widowed five years ago, there was great rejoicing as a her dream of being baptised was finally realised on Easter Sunday.          

Days later our weekly fellowship grew as more began to turn their back on smoking and seek the power of God in their weakness.   18 of us gathered in a tiny room to pray, to laugh, to celebrate, to weep.  We went out into the back garden and tried to find some treasure hidden in the ground, "the Kingdom of Heaven" which when found is worth selling everything for.  We came back inside to pray in the Kingdom into each of our lives and recognise that even in poverty, love is more important than money, freedom more important than homes, and a community of love more important than nuclear families.  Even in the most desparate circumstances the risen Jesus makes himself present.

Next week we begin in Luton Roma Church on the corner...

More quit smoking!

The Roma mother's steely determination to quit smoking and be baptised has had just the effect I have prayed for.  Two others have now quit and another is lined up to follow.  This will mean three families will have become smoke free within a week or so.  This means 10 children will now be in a smoke free environment.  I got my calculator out.  The total saving for one year will be £4,810.  This blew them all away. But all that is nothing compared to the spiritual power that is being released as a result.   Smoking is understood as sin and a real blockage to knowing God.  Remove the blockage and faith is born.  With the birth of faith comes a growth in confidence and vitality.  Against all the odds, hope is being kindled that maybe things might just get better for a people who have known nothing but misery and marginalization.  At our weekly prayer meeting I told the story of Jesus' resurrection appearance at the lake side on the morning after the disciples had fished in vain all night.  The message: Jesus actively chooses to show up when the chips are down and all hope has been shattered.  The people can be so broken that they are blinded to recognising him when he appears.   Rather that dazzle them, he slips into their lives at first without them noticing.  He weaves his presence into the fabric of lives that have been torn apart.  A new garment of praise replaces a garment of mourning.  Luton Roma Church is coming to birth in the same way that a living organism takes shape - seemingly random events conspire to bring something out of nothing.  There's nothing to shout from the rooftops.  But there's a story emerging in the gutter.  My role?  To try to make connections and point to what might be missed.  "O Del si amensa. Tu dikes?"  "God is with us.  Do you see?"

"Daughters of Jerusalem! Do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children!"

As the cross was carried through Luton on Good Friday to a slow drum beat, two young Roma women spotted me.  They were in town begging.  They joined the procession.  Here you see them facing the cross. We weep for Jesus, remembering his passion, what he did for us all.  But when he processed through Jerusalem carrying that cross what did he say to the women weeping?  "Daughters of Jerusalem! Do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and your children!"   The general view is that things will get worse for the Gyspy people.  Jesus is weeping for them.  These two mothers will be evicted from their home on Tuesday.  They could not pay the rent and it's all turned very nasty.  Two families will be searching in desperation for somewhere to lay their head.  We went in the church after the procession. They wanted to hear the passion narrative in their language.  I read from my Kalderash bible.  Then they went off begging.  And I in search of an empathic private landlord.  Amidst their desparate circumstances they are always able to laugh.  The mother on the right is the best cleaner in town.  Why do people stare in derision?

From the Kent Romanies to the Luton Roma...

Here's a video clip which will be shown at gatherings around the world of The Order of Mission [TOM] this summer.  Beginning with the Kent Romanies it flows on to the Luton Roma...

What does it take to quit?

One Roma mother is preparing for baptism on Easter Sunday.  This is a life and death matter for her, something she's been longing to do for years.  Inseparable from her decision to be baptised by full immersion is her determination to quit smoking.  I have never known anyone so desperate for deliverance from an addiction.  As her faith and confidence in God grows, so her hope that his "power will be made perfect in weakness".  Her first smoke-free day came when we went to the "stop smoking clinic" and got professional advice.  Now every day she is £2 richer.  Every year she will be over £700 richer.  That amounts to one month a year living rent free!  But the most powerful motivation comes from feeling the power of the Spirit redirecting her life in the narrow way that leads to life.  There is no room for any of my finely nuanced theological niceities.  It's black and white.

Other Roma have been deeply skeptical and resistant.  But this mother's steely determination to go against the flow has had just the effect I believed it would.  One Roma guy, penniless, hungry for God and desperate to eak out an existence in Luton with his family, has told me he's going to follow his cousins' decision and quit too.  On Monday we'll be at the clinic.

I'm praying that the story of these two Roma quitting smoking will open the eyes of others to the reality of a God who is poised ready to deliver.  "kon si amaro del?"  "Jesus - amaro skepitori!"  "Who is our God?" "Jesus - our rescuer!"  This we sang triumphantly as it blared our over my car speakers the other day.  God brings people out of slavery, EX - ODUS (out of - the place).  The Roma know all about longing for liberation from bad places.  My friends ancestors were slaves for centuries in Romania. And just last Saturday we attended International Roma Holocaust Day in London and remembered the 500,000 Roma who the Nazis exterminated.  But if God can do the impossible and rescue just one person from deep nicotine addiction - often the only solace in seemingly hopeless circumstances - then maybe he can rescue a whole people and bring them into a place flowing with milk and honey.  

English Romani Creed translated into Kalderash Romani

When I was living back in Kent the English Romanies composed their own creed and Pashey put it into song.  You can listen to her singing a little of it on the video link on the right.  Over here in Luton we have had huge fun translating this into Kalerash Romani.  With my elementary Romani and their remedial English this was hugely demanding.  But along the way we each got deeper into the meaning of the Gospel.  The 14 year Roma boy discovered a gift for language he did not know he has.   After two hours hard work, he and his mother were still wanting to crack on.  You can find the whole creed in my book.  Here's a sample of the translation we are working on.  Later that evening we tried it out in our weekly prayer meeting using two voices: English/Romani.  Rather than a set of theological statements, it's a free floating meditation on what it means to be a believer in everyday life.  Gyspy thought patterns are post-modern in feel;  metaphors are woven into a rich tapestry; there is no closure, only invitation to further exploration; punctuation would ruin the flow.   Our streams converge...

We believe

Ame pachas

Jesus love is like a running stream

O drago le jesusosko si sar mergertori paiesko

Flowing to all corners of the world

Kai jal ne se koltsuri

It flows high and it flows low

Jal opre hai jal tele

It reaches everywhere

Wo jal pe sakon than

Even to the desert

[chi kai] ande pusta

Roma witness to Luton Muslims

God is always poised to bring something good out of adversity.  Earlier this week I went with one Roma widow to her landlord to explain why there was a delay with the rent being paid.  The landlord was in considerable pain in his leg.  I did wonder about offering prayer, but it was his tenant that offered first.  He seemed please with the offer.  Moments later I opened my eyes and saw her on her knees praying fervently with arms raised over him.  It was very moving to see a Christian Roma widow praying for a muslim in his own home.  There is much fear here in Luton that we will be overwealmed by the growing Islamic presence.  But the risen Jesus can slip in anywhere he chooses.

What's in it for me?

We are trying to move our Roma friends on from "what's in it for me?" thinking, to "how can I bless others" thinking.  It's taken me a life time to begin to understand the difference.  For those who have received very little blessing in their lives, and a whole lot of rejection, I guess its an even longer journey to make than it was for me.

On Saturday we cleaned 40 cars outside our church free of charge.  People were amazed as they came back from their shopping to find their cars sparkling.

Our church team had 3 Roma women and 4 Roma lads helping.  This is the first time we've invited the Roma to do something expecting nothing in return.  At lunch the 3 Roma women were handed a card on which was written "the Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit" Psalm 34:18    I read it to them: "O Baro Del si pasha kudala kai si lengo ilo shindo, ai skipil kudalen kai si lengo duxo pelo tele."  I felt my heart being healed as I cleaned the cars.  I don't know how it affected the Roma.  Did they feel exploited? For hundreds of years their ancestors had been slaves in Romania.

Prayer times

Last night 10 of us squeezed into the front room of the home in which we meet to pray every Wednesday.  A new family has moved in so our numbers tripled.  I read the parable of the wise man who builds his house on rock from the Maximov translation.  Some words seemed alien to them but we found a way through that.  One of our team drew the story on a white board as it unfolded.  There wasn't quite space to try and act it out.  This lead to a couple of testimonies, some tears and prayers. The new Roma mother sang "Tu san amaro dad, Hallelujah!"  (you are our Father, Hallelujah) and others joined in.  It's interesting that when they prayer the Lord's Prayer they recite it in Romanian; as yet they don't know it in their own Kalderash Romani.  It's a massive privilege to then read it to them in their mother tongue.  That same night a couple of other Roma families new to Luton moved into rented property which we had found and secured within a day.

Give a man a fishing rod...

"Give a man a fishing rod..."

Give a man a fish and you disempower him.  Give him a fishing rod, teach him to fish, and you've given him a job for life.  One of our team provided some of the Roma women with sewing machines which our church folk were pleased to pass on.  Dresses have been made and sold.  But the latest marketing opportunity is a Zimmer Frame Bag.  We are not aware of anyone else having created such a bag. Over the last few days 3 have been sold at £10 each. We're praying this may be an idea from Heaven.

Meanwhile, the two bikes which we had in our shed were passed on to two Roma lads who are now cycling to school. This could save potentially £300 a year in bus fares. The lads were in their element setting the bikes up... who knows, maybe this'll lead to something.

The same day, the school called a crisis meeting. The Roma kids attendance is around 80%.  This is nothing short of a miracle.  But it's below the legal requirement.  The riot act was read, and we hope attendance will pick up.

Chaplain to Gypsies, Travellers and Roma

Today, the Bishop of St Alban's appointed me as Chaplain to the Gypsies, Travellers and Roma for our Diocese.  This is a kind of official approval of the work I've been doing with these people over the last two years.  Perhaps a good note on which to launch this blog.

The Luton Roma Church is a tiny mustard seed right now - just me and a few others meeting to pray in one Roma home. Tiny beginnings.  But there's something stirring.  Mum's decided to go for full immersion baptism on Easter Sunday.  "Me kamav te bokuima!" "I want to be born again!"  This is her way of thanking God for healing her son who a year ago had been seriously ill. At the time she saw a vision of the risen Jesus.  The prayer meetings are important to her: she's turned down work that clashed with the time we meet, not least because it meant cleaning in a very dubious place in town.  She's sacrificed income rather than compromise her faith. God will honour this!