Bringing God’s Word to Roma Children: A New Era of Hope, Identity, and Cultural Preservation

TWR's ministry to children includes original Roma children songs as well as professional animations in the Roma language. Through these, Roma children are learning Bible stories and hearing the gospel.

The poverty mindset not only affects material well-being but also profoundly shapes a person’s inner world, diminishing their self-confidence and motivation. A sense of hopelessness and destiny can lead to passivity and acceptance of their current state as unchangeable.

That’s why it’s essential to start changing this mindset early, especially through the spiritual education of children. God’s Word has the power to break these barriers. Messages of hope, love, and dignity, taught from a young age, help build a new identity and empower children to believe in themselves, their community, and the future that God can give them.

Children’s Audio Bible

Inspired by this idea, in cooperation with our team and local churches in Leskovac and Jagodina, TWR created excellent materials for Roma children. A new audio Bible story series for children, recorded in Romani, is now available to families. It includes 60 audio Bible stories in Romani featuring careful storytelling and content that respects their culture. Local authors wrote the texts, gave voices and composed music with spiritual messages. This is more than a tool for evangelism – it is an act of cultural preservation. In a world where minority languages are disappearing, this initiative helps the next generation of Roma children grow up hearing God’s Word in their mother tongue.

This material is shared through social media, digital platforms, websites and USB drives in Roma churches, preschools, Sunday schools, children’s camps and families. Parents often tell us that their children sing the songs at home and joyfully understand biblical truths in an easy and meaningful way.

Superbook

When Miki and Misha, two Roma pastors and musicians, started brainstorming ways to reach Roma children, they decided to produce 16 original Serbian Roma songs (including video clips) and 13 animations. In October 2022, the Christian Broadcasting Network coordinator for Superbook animations in the Balkan region agreed to cooperate with TWR.

We are especially thankful to God that we were able to complete the first season of the well-known animated series Superbook in the Roma language. This internationally known series follows two children and their robot friend as they travel through time and witness key Bible events. Each episode shares important Christian messages subjects such as forgiveness, courage, faith and obedience through exciting storytelling and high-quality animation.

By producing Superbook in the Roma language, we are providing children with content that is both educational and spiritually strong. Families tell us that children now enjoy listening to and watching Bible stories and then thinking about what they’ve learned. This is a powerful sign that the spiritual hunger in the community is being met creatively and effectively.

A Future of Hope

In the Roma community, there is often a profound sense of resignation to fate. Many believe that hardship and poverty are an unavoidable part of life and that their own lives, as well as the lives of their children, are destined to follow the same path. This belief creates an additional psychological barrier, stopping many from dreaming of a different future and striving for change.

The Ikonos Media team, TWR’s national partner in Serbia, created a dedicated collection of content for Roma children. These children’s programs offer an opportunity to break this cycle and bring hope through the gospel in their heart language. This is an unprecedented project in the sense that no media production has ever been done purely for Roma children.

We pray for this ministry among the Roma population in Serbia, for blessings, wisdom and creativity in preparing programs, for protection and unity in our team, and for the spiritual growth of all our listeners and many Roma families.

Images: (top, banner) Two young Roma girls gather for prayer and blessing at their church in Bulgaria, (bottom, right) A scene from the animated Roma series, Superbook.