As a distinct ethnic group their origins are a bit hard to trace, given the lack of written history. Europeans first called them Gypsies, an abbreviation of "Egyptians," reflecting the mistaken belief that the Roma first came from Egypt. Linguistic studies of Romani dialects now point to origins in India, with a transient movement beginning towards the Middle East in the tenth or eleventh century. By the fourteenth century the migration had spread to Europe. From there clans scattered to the British Isles, to Russian territory, to South America, and in the nineteenth century, to North America. They traveled as minstrels, artisans, servants, horse traders and mercenaries. Today, Gypsies usually prefer to be called Roma, a term from the Romany language meaning "human." In some places there is a clear distinction made between "gypsy" and "Roma".
Their long history has been characterized by persecution borne of ignorance, racism, and bigotry, fueling a vicious cycle of social and economic problems. Though not nomadic to the extent they were in previous generations, today many Roma face serious problems of unemployment and limited access to education and health services in many places. They are Hungary's largest minority. And an estimated 8 to 12 million Roma are scattered across the European continent today.
Roma are not a unified, homogenous people. Their transient history and tight family structure means they do not always see themselves as sharing a lot in common from camp to camp, or even within the same village.
Historically, relations between church and Roma have not always been positive. With their own mysterious customs such as fortune-telling, unique dialects, and nomadic behavior, Roma have been seen as heretics or untouchables. More recently, during the communist era in Central and Eastern Europe, the church was restricted in its missional involvement in larger society. Much has changed, however, since the so-called Velvet Revolution in central Europe, with more freedoms and opportunities opening in the past dozen years or so.
European Churches and Roma
Background
In the last ten years Christians throughout Europe have begun to work together with the Roma community in Europe to help Roma get access to education, to find employment or start small businesses, as well as develop their own congregations or find their place in existing congregations. In 1999, the Conference of European Churches, a fellowship of churches from every country in Europe, held a major conference on Roma in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. This gathering symbolized the growing commitment of European churches to work side by side with Roma. In the same year representatives of a number of Central and Eastern European and North American churches traveled together to visit several Roma communities and ministries to learn from the Roma and from each other how they might do better ministry together.
As a result of that trip, which was organized by Duncan Hanson, the Reformed Church in America (RCA) mission supervisor for Europe, a three-fold vision was identified for the churches' work with Roma, and this is described on our home page.
