Roma find hope and sustenance in the riches of heart language Scripture

Owning real estate in Jarovnice is less than ideal. Located in the cold, mountainous terrain of eastern Slovakia, this village of 7,000 people experiences hard, dreary winters. But that’s not what keeps new residents away.

“It’s because of the Roma,” says Marek Olah sadly.

As a pastor, former Bible translator, and the current national director for The Word For The World–Slovakia, Marek has not forgotten his roots and the heavy hand of discrimination that rests on his community. Like a thick cloak, the label “gypsy” wraps them in generational despair and extreme poverty.

Without equal opportunities for education and employment, many Roma take to the streets, much like Marek and his brother Rino once did. Marek vividly remembers their frequent 15-hour drives from Sabinov, Slovakia, to Switzerland to find work “where the rich people live” so they could support their mom and four younger sisters. The two teens lived out of their car for two to three weeks at a time, spending their days as street performers. They sang and played the accordion, hoping for tips.

“But mostly, we just begged,” Marek recalls.

Street performing didn’t pan out as the most effective way to pay the bills, but for Marek and Rino, it brought wealth of a far greater kind. Rino met someone who introduced him to Jesus, and eventually, his mother, brother, and entire family embraced faith—and a new life that changed everything.

Today, Marek and Rino are pastors of two thriving Roma churches in eastern Slovakia. Rino leads the large main campus in Sabinov, and Marek pastors the satellite church in Jarovnice, home to the largest Roma settlement in Slovakia. Marek’s church, a converted pizza parlor, has more than doubled in size since the East Slovak Romani Bible was dedicated on December 10, 2023, and more than 120 have been baptized. 

After the dedication, the first print run of 10,000 Bibles was exhausted, so 6,000 more copies have been ordered, always given freely to whomever asks. The Bible is also available in audio formats, and an illustrated youth edition has been created. 

Now, nearly two years after the dedication, the full counsel of God is still transforming these Roma communities: 

• In one Roma settlement, drunken brawls among adult men wielding axes and spades are now a thing of the past. And children from that same settlement who previously acted out on school buses are now behaving differently. “You can see that someone or something else is working in their lives. We believe it’s the gospel,” says Pierre van Vuuren, director of The Word For The World—Europe.

• Maria’s son worked at a local church that kept Slovak Bibles locked up. She begged her son to borrow one from the priest, but it wasn’t until she received and read from her own copy of the Bible—translated into her heart language of Romani—that she was ready to commit her life to Christ.

• Albina never wanted to go to church with her parents, preferring to live like her peers who weren’t following Jesus. She loved to smoke and party with her friends. But when she observed her parents living according to biblical principles, she decided to go, and at that same service, give her life to Jesus! Since then, she has exchanged unhealthy vices for godly living.

• Years ago, Rino’s Roma church in Sabinov successfully petitioned the mayor to close down the local casinos because of their devastating impact on the poorest of the poor in their community. Casinos are now trying to make a comeback, but the church continues to resist their efforts.

• Václav and Jana were in a dysfunctional marriage. Like many Roma, both were prone to excessive drinking. But Václav’s intoxication usually led him to wander the village in search of a fight—until he heard the gospel preached from the East Slovak Romani Bible. He gave his life to Christ that day, and his wife followed suit the next. Now, as Václav walks through the village with his family on their way to church, he is a testimony to his neighbors of God’s saving grace.

Marek sums up this transformation perfectly.

“People like the Roma who lived at the bottom, without hope, without God in their world, now have a relationship with the Lord Jesus. Their hearts, their inner person, are changed, and they start to have new values,” he says. “The way that God’s Word changes people’s lives—it has great power. I am grateful to God, and I pray that there would be many more such families who allow Him to change their lives from the bottom up.”

We praise God for his ongoing work among the Roma. Like Marek and Rino, they’re experiencing where true wealth lies—the Word of God in their heart language of East Slovak Romani.