How Gypsies have moved from fortune telling to fervent Christianity
by Alex Strangways-Booth, BBC News.
At a time when large numbers of people are drifting away from formal religion, one church is bucking the trend. Huge numbers of Gypsies and travellers in England now say they’ve joined a new movement called Light and Life. Those who join have given up drinking alcohol and fortune-telling, and many have even abandoned their traditional Catholic faith.
The movement, which is Gypsy-led, has grown rapidly in the past 30 years – it says up to 40% of British Gypsies belong to it. There’s no way to prove that claim, but most Gypsies and travellers will agree that there is a surge in people joining…
…It’s not just the Gypsies God wants to save, claims church elder, Pastor Jackie Boyd.
“England and Britain as a nation are going against the standards and principles of God in a big way. So we hope to see a revival and our people saved – but we want everyone to be saved.”
Other churches, like the Salvation Army, are also seeing a growth in the number of Eastern European Roma joining. And the Church of England has several Gypsy-led congregations starting up.
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