Romany and Reformed - est-ce possible?

For 50 years now, a remarkable work of the gospel has been going on in France among the travellers, called 'gypsies' or 'Romany people'.

These were the folk who live mainly in Eastern Europe (and also Spain). Hitler tried to eliminate them along with the Jews and other minorities. They have also been subject to attacks in recent years from extreme right wing groups in Europe.

Some have become sedentary, having put down roots, but others are always on the move. They tend to settle in one place for the winter, which creates panic and fear in the locality, and to travel in the summer. It is a mentality which defies all our social structures.

Parallel economy

The fact is that the Romany people live outside the rules of society, working hard and dealing in cash, so they create a parallel economy. We might regret it and think it is wrong, but that is to condemn the whole way of life of this people-group. When politicians in the West seem to be stealing from 'the system' whenever they can, can we condemn the Romany people for working 'on the side' and living their life?

There are large numbers of travellers in France and Spain, and also, of course, in Romania and Hungary. No one really knows how many there are, as, being travellers, they are not subject to national rescensions of population. They count themselves in terms of caravans. One caravan, often pulled by a nice BMW or a Mercedes van, can number about seven people: two parents plus children. In Romania, where there are several large churches of gypsies, they live in village-like communes.

The gospel came to the Romanies in France through the ministry of one Clement Le Cossec, who had the courage to go out and witness to them about the Lord Jesus. Le Cossec was a Pentecostal pastor and the people, converted through his remarkable ministry, became, of course, Pentecostals . . . and dispensationalists. Dispensationalism is a form of theology imported from the USA, which cuts the Bible into more or less hermetic segments, insisting very strongly on the return of Christ before establishing the millennial reign on earth. Signs of the end and chronologies are very important.

But the result of this ministry is that in France today there are more than 1,000 Romany pastors. They have a training school in the department of the Loiret, in the east of the country, for their evangelists. The training is pretty basic, just how to convert the average gypsy, plus a little 'sound doctrine'. Their zeal is enormous.

Churches and conventions

The travellers' church in Nice has 500 members and in Marseille it is comparable. The association of gypsy churches is called ' La mission evangelique tzigane' in France, and has even become an associate member of the Federation Protestante de France, together with the mainline churches, in an attempt to protect the rights of the Romanies and not be put in the same bag as the sects by the civil authorities.

At their annual convention, held in different places in France, around 7,000 caravans gather each summer. That means about 30,000 people. On the site there can be up to 40,000 people and these happenings often attract the attention of French television news, which is not the fact for many evangelical or Roman Catholic events. Unfortunately, as at football matches and rock concerts, there are 'gate-crashers' who create violent side-shows.

Reformed thought

When Clay Siegler, a Romany evangelist, came to talk to me at the Faculte de Theologie in Aix, I was very interested, because something unusual was happening. He wanted to know more about the history of the church through the ages and what it had taught. Now I have known Clay for about four years, since the day he got my telephone number and called me up to say: 'I am thinking about the meaning of the cross and would like to talk with you'.

Clay is perhaps the first French Reformed Romany. He taught himself to read and write and has read the Church Fathers, Calvin and Luther. He knows about ten times more than the average student in theology (which is not to belittle them). Sitting in my study the other day, he told me that he could not accept the notion from liberal theology that words which Christ had never said were later put into his mouth by the writers of the New Testament (he used a Latin expression). I nearly fell over.

Clay is going to give me a 140-page manuscript he has written for his own edification in which he seeks to demonstrate that the death of Christ is a sacrificial, substitutionary atonement, with reference to the New Testament, the Church Fathers and the Reformers. He is certainly a very intelligent person. He is about 30, has three kids, lives in a trailer and van with his family, and organises evangelistic meetings all over France for the travellers.

Clay's big problem is that he is Reformed in his way of thinking and not a dispensationalist. He believes in the sovereignty of God, that regeneration precedes faith, and in the sacrifice of Christ as a limited atonement.

Spoiling simplicity

For that reason, he just escaped going on the Index of his church last year for 'false doctrine'. He was forbidden to continue his studies in reformed theology at our Faculte in Aix by his superiors. He complied, but comes to get reading programmes from us all the same. In our recent conversation he explained to me that the Romany churches have a deeply embedded fear of theology and intellectualism. They think it spoils the simplicity of the gospel and its direct message of salvation by faith and conversion. This attitude is understandable as the Romanies form tightly-knit communities which are allergic to outside influences and tend to form ranks against them.

Clay Siegler is trying to act wisely in this situation and not push his views too strongly. He is making his position known through the personal contacts he has with other evangelists and ministers in the churches. Let's hope that Clay, the first Reformed Romany in France, will help many to follow him, with the result of the deepening of the faith of these communities.

Paul Wells

The author is Professor of Systematic Theology at Aix en Provence, editor of La Revue Reformee, and president of the Association for the Promotion of Bible Study (APEB) in France.

Romany and Reformed - est-ce possible?

A look at the work of the gospel in France among the travellers

Parallel economy

Churches and conventions

Reformed thought

Spoiling simplicity

Paul Wells

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