As I look at the manger in Bethlehem, I am struck with the humility of our Savior who identified Himself with the poor and lowly.
This Christmas, I would like to invite you to pray with me for the poorest and most marginalized people of Europe. For more than a thousand years, the Roma people (also known as Gypsies) have been an integral part of European civilization. Today, with an estimated population of 10 to 12 million in Europe, the Roma people are the biggest ethnic minority in Europe.
They are marginalized and live in very poor social-economic conditions. They face extreme prejudice, intolerance, discrimination, and social exclusion in their daily lives.
CHE work among Gypsies expanding
At Community Health Evangelism (CHE) training in Colorado in the fall of 2010, God put Central and Eastern Europe on my heart. The following year, in May of 2011, we organized a meeting of CHE trained workers from Europe in conjunction with the Hope for Europe Conference in Hungary. At the time, there were a growing number of European organizations doing CHE globally, but only a few CHE ministries in Central Europe itself.
At this meeting, I met Ron and Jeannie Seck who had only recently received CHE training from Equip International in North Carolina, and were planning to move to Hungary in 2012. Ron and Jeannie felt called to the Roma.
Today, Ron and Jeannie report that there are nine CHE teams at work among the Roma in six countries (Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Ukraine, Albania, and Bosnia). CHE foundations have been established in Hungary and Serbia, and another is being formed in Romania. Six different Christian ministries are cooperating in this work and are coming together to form the Central European CHE Network. The Hungarian foundation has a website up that you can visit… if you can read Hungarian.
Pray with us for the continuing growth of these works. Pray that many Roma will come to know Jesus as their personal Savior and their lives and communities transformed by the power of the Gospel.
Community Health Evangelism ministries are expanding organically around the globe and the movement is growing. You might say it has gone viral. It is impossible to know anymore how many CHE programs there are, much less how many lives are being touched, but we know it is significant. As of the end of 2013, membership in the CHE Network now represents 626 organizations in 125 countries.
We are grateful to be in the position to be able to leverage what we have learned for the advance of the kingdom by giving it away to others and providing them with tools to do the work God has called them to do among the poor. Your financial gifts make it all possible.
If you would like to make a year-end contribution, please make checks payable to Alliance for Transformational Ministry (ATM). Note on the memo line Terry Dalrymple GCN-01 and send to 727 E Bethany Home Dr., Suite D-122, Phoenix, AZ, 85014. You may also give online, here.
May your Christmas be filled with his peace and the hope of his return!
Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.” -Luke 2:14