through ministries of the Evangeli- cal Lutheran Church in Hungary. “One of the more serious social
Levi and other preschoolers get early childhood activities and a warm meal at a “children’s house” run by Hungarian Lutherans in Görögszállás, where Thad Titze served for a year with ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission.
“
A change of plans P
Lutheran volunteer grew in faith living among Roma in Hungary
By Erin Strybis
lan carefully and plan for your plans to change.” Tad Titze, a graduate of
Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D., found these words of wisdom from a former professor to ring true as he began a year of service in Hungary with the ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program in fall 2013. Aſter two weeks of Hungarian
language instruction, he was on the road to his home for the next 10 months: Görögszállás, a predomi- nantly Roma village of 250 people. He had learned just hours
before that he would be moving to Görögszállás instead of another town nearby where previous volun- teers had lived. But plans changed, and Titze
became the YAGM’s first volunteer to live with a Roma host family. It was a significant step since relation- ships with Roma people are key for young adults’ experience there. Te Roma population (also known as gypsies) is the largest
40
www.thelutheran.org
ethnic minority group in Europe. Who the Roma are and where they come from is a topic of some debate. Titze learned that the Roma are
“people who migrated [around 1,000 years ago] from Northern India [and] who have dispersed throughout Europe and have some cohesive language and cultural narrative.” Troughout history the Roma
have been subjected to persecution, oppression and genocide. Today they continue to face discrimina- tion from the dominant culture in Europe. Young adult volunteers like Titze work with Roma people
For more ... To learn more about Thad Titze’s year in Hungary through ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission, visit
www.youtube.com/elca and click on “Thad’s Story.”
To learn more about the ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission pro- gram, visit
www.elca.org/yagm.
questions in Hungary is [the] rela- tionship with Roma and non-Roma population,” said Tamás Fabiny, bishop of the church’s Northern District. “[Roma] live in very deep circumstances, where their everyday experience is poverty and hostile treatment from [the] majority of [the] population. Te Hungarian Lutheran Church is try- ing to do her best to help those in deep crisis.” Titze’s main assignment was to
help at a “children’s house,” an early childhood education ministry in
Throughout history the
Roma have been subjected to persecution, oppres- sion and genocide.
Görögszállás. Begun by the
Filidelfia Lutheran Church in Nyir- telek, Hungary, the ministry is led by Mihály “Misi” Györfi, a pastor who served as Titze’s adviser. When Filidelfia expanded its
work to Görögszállás, Györfi said the congregation first focused on making connections with the Roma. Ten they shared their faith and began a mission congregation in the village. “It was amazing to see how God
has given [the Roma] new life in Christ,” Györfi said. Te congregation soon realized
it needed to do more. “We needed to take care of their physical needs,” Györfi said. “We started to pray to seek God’s will. We are thankful to God we [were] able to start the children’s house.” Serving preschoolers and their
parents, the ministry offers activities and toys to kick-start early child- hood development and provides a warm meal. “A lot of these children don’t have
books and toys at home,” Titze said. “Coming to the children’s house
ELCA YOUNG ADULTS IN GLOBAL MISSION/THAD TITZE
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