On April 23, 2015, Gypsy Methodology and Research Center (GMRC), the scientific research arm of Hungarian Gypsy Missions International, introduced their first major work in sociological research among the Hungarian Roma, The Impact of Gypsy Mission Movements in Hungary. The Protestant interdenominational survey has shown that there are about 20,000 born-again church-attending ethnic Gypsies in Hungary today.
Having processed 1100 questionnaires from a representative group of 6500 ethnic Gypsies across the country, GMRC researchers found that transformation of born-again Roma?s lives is obvious and Christian ministries among the Roma have a substantial positive impact on society.
Ethnic Gypsies make up a significant portion of the population in Central & Eastern Europe. Their cultural differences, poverty as well as mainstream society?s rampant prejudice against them have created a complex ?Gypsy issue? across Europe. Neither national governments nor the European Union has been able to offer a viable long-term solution that would provide equal chances and a hope for the future to the Roma masses while increasing their usefulness for society. We are convinced that even if society had all the good intentions and precise strategies to help, the Roma ? just as everybody else ? can and will only be changed by the transforming power of the gospel.
In The Impact of Gypsy Mission Movements in Hungary, the authors ? GMRC researchers Mr. Gellert Gyetvai and Mr. Zoltan Rajki ? paint a detailed picture about how Roma lives can change under God?s transforming power when they are approached with love and grace. All aspects of their lives are changed and they do become a blessing to others.
Hungarian Gypsy Missions International firmly believes God will make the last the first. He will lift up the Roma in Europe and make them examples and a driving force for change.
