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3rd European Roma Mission Conference

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Roma Networks is a European, yet more and more international cooperation of organisations ministering among Roma people. It was already our third conference on 9-12 October, and this time we gathered together in Sarajevo in order to strengthen our relationships with each other and to share the unfolding of God’s vision.

The main theme of the conference was partnership. We have to admit that if we work by intentional, planned and consistent cooperation we can achieve much better results in both improving the life standard of Roma people and in sharing the gospel. Besides “digesting” the lectures we had plenty opportunities to get to know each other’s works and to build new partnering relationships. There were regional/ country group meetings as well, where we could evaluate what we heard from the lecturers and we made plans how to make our cooperation work in our smaller areas more fruitful.

We had the special privilege of being able to travel from Hungary together with brothers and sisters who minister as members of the Protestant Gypsy Mission Forum. Within the realms of the Forum there are Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed and Pentecostal ministers working in cooperation.

The conference program was full of inspiring messages from the stories of Elijah and Elisha, from the story of the great catch of fishes and from personal life stories of our brethren. When we came home, we felt that we had received something significant what was worth going to the conference for, what was more than human efforts and what shows us that because of Christ our Christian brotherhood is much more significant than our different opinions what can sometimes separate us from each other. Maybe we were able to understand this even more while walking among the mosques of the town…

2nd European Roma Missions Conference

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People from 27 countries were gathered to the 2nd European Roma Missions Conference what was held in Békés, Hungary on 21-24 September. Hungarian Gypsy Missions International (based in Békés) and Roma Networks (an international Roma missions network) made it their common purpose to connect the different Roma missions working throughout Europe so with cooperation they could reach as many people as possible and bring radical positive change in lives, find solutions for the problems of society.

At the conference the 210 participants ? who were either well respected and well experienced or greatly motivated people in Roma missions ? had the chance to attend 6 main lectures and 11 workshops. They also had opportunities to get together at the country meetings and share their experiences, initiate cooperation and lay down the foundations for an international network of Roma missions.

At this international event there were some prominent persons greeting the conference like Gábor Izsó the Mayor of Békés, Béla Dankó a representative at the Hungarian Parliament and Katalin Langerné Victor Deputy Secretary of Ministry of Human Resources Responsible for Social Inclusion. The Deputy Secretary emphasized that the Roma issue is not only an issue in Hungary but also an issue for the whole Europe.

The conference did not conclude without continuation again: the Committee of 6 leaders was supplemented by other 44 people who were elected by the country representatives. This group of 50 people will keep in touch ? they will create the platform and database for the purpose of helping and informing each other. These representatives will create the framework for the long term future cooperation and they will meet to share personal reports on the development of the Roma missions works of their countries in next March.

“After the exciting work of preparation it was pleasant to see the fruits of realization. We could see right at the beginning this was to be a unique event, since probably there were no such events before where Roma people and people serving Roma came together from so many countries and denominations whose hearts are burning for the Kingdom of God.” ? so the organizing team of HGMI evaluated the conference.

“This conference was not unique, because we could hear such experts speaking or see the representatives of large organizations or communities, yet we could create a unity of people from different cultural and denominational backgrounds. This unity comes from the common purpose we are here for and it is the Kingdom of God and we all are His workers for the sake of the Roma. We do not declare our own greatness, but the healing and restoring work of Christ what he has been doing among one of the most lost nations: the Roma people.”

Those days we spent here were only the beginning of the future work, where we will start to use these newly built bridges. I think we have not only finished a conference, but we have proclaimed a vision what will inspire people for further building.

The “Building God’s Kingdom Together” conference was a unique event, since probably there was never an event before where servants of a common purpose gathered together from so many countries and denominations.

(Photos by Illés Molnár)

2nd European Roma Missions ConferenceAlbert DurkoKatalin Langerné Victor

Conference meeting

Workshop