When God's Answer Became Greater Than the Dream

The Roma people discover their identity in Christ through the living Word of God.

"I understand everything you are saying."

The man stood up while the passage was being read. For a moment, the room fell silent.

"This is very good," he continued. "We really need this."

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For Nikola, it was one of those moments that cannot be measured by years, milestones, or completed projects. The words being read were from the Gospel of Luke in Arli Romani, one of the languages spoken in Serbia. What made the moment unforgettable was the response the translated words awakened. People were listening. They understood. And they wanted more.

The reading took place during a community check, one of the most important stages of the Bible translation process. People throughout the community gather to hear God's Word read aloud in the language they know. They help refine every word and phrase, so that the words feel natural, understandable, and deeply personal.

For many, this was the first time they heard Scripture in the language they spoke at home. Nikola was witnessing a glimpse of the desire God had placed in him long before: to serve his community. Years later, that glimpse would become something far larger, as Roma communities gathered to receive the New Testament in their mother tongue.

Nikola’s story, though, began years earlier, inside a home where faith was already taking root. He grew up in Serbia as part of the Roma community. In their language, Roma means “human,” a name that carries dignity for a people who have often been treated as less. Nikola understood the challenges his people faced. Generations had experienced discrimination, exclusion, and limited opportunities; even when young people pursued education and worked hard, doors often remained closed simply because they were Romani.

But Nikola also grew up surrounded by faith. His father was one of the early leaders within the Romani church community, helping create spaces where Romani families could gather to worship together. What Nikola could not see then was that God was already preparing something far greater, and that preparation began during one of the most painful seasons of his life.

As a teenager, Nikola was involved in a devastating bicycle accident that left him critically injured. Doctors feared he would not survive. His body eventually healed, but the emotional wounds remained, and instead of drawing closer to God, he became angry.

Church no longer felt like a place of comfort. Faith seemed distant. The God he had trusted as a child appeared silent. Then one evening, a different thought broke through: what if God had not abandoned him? What if God had actually been with him all along?

“For years I thought the accident meant God had abandoned me,” Nikola says. “Then I realized that if God had not been with me, I would have died.”

The story he had been telling himself began to unravel. The God he believed had abandoned him was, in fact, the God who had preserved him; and confronted by that truth, Nikola surrendered his life fully to Christ.

"I stopped asking, 'Why did this happen to me?' and started asking, 'Lord, what do You want me to do with the life You have given back to me?'"

From that moment on, his life was no longer centered around his own plans but around God's purpose, and his passion for the Romani people remained as strong as ever.

Together, he and his wife began praying a simple prayer: "Lord, how do You want us to serve You?"

The answer came unexpectedly, through a friend already involved in Roma Bible translation. During a conversation at a youth camp, the friend asked Nikola whether he had ever considered joining the work. Bible translation seemed far beyond anything Nikola had imagined for himself, yet his response was immediate.

"My heart burned inside me."

What followed was a long season of training in linguistics, biblical interpretation, translation theory, and community engagement. Because Arli, like many Romani dialects, has traditionally been spoken more than written, the team was helping develop a consistent written form even as they translated Scripture. Some verses required long hours of careful work, especially when biblical terms had no direct equivalent.

“Translation is like building a puzzle,” Nikola says. “You have to find words people understand and still remain faithful to Scripture.”

Many Roma people had been told, directly or indirectly, that their language held little value. But hearing God’s Word in their heart language told a different story: their language mattered, their people mattered, and God’s Word was for them.

“Every nation and every people group needs the Bible in their own language,” Nikola says.

Nikola served with the Arli team, one of three Serbian Romani translation teams involved in the wider work alongside Gurbet and Chergash. The Gospel of Luke was among the first portions published in Arli Romani. The work continued until the New Testament was completed and prepared for launch. On April 8, 2026, in Leskovac, the teams gathered for the dedication and launch of God’s Word, celebrating the New Testament in all three languages.

The timing carried special meaning. April 8 was International Roma Day, in the fifty-fifth year of recognition of the Roma nation. Inside the church, pastors, leaders, relatives, translators, and guests from several countries gathered for the dedication and launch. The event began with the Roma anthem, and everyone stood in respect. What had begun as years of careful, often hidden translation work was now being received publicly by the people it was meant to serve.

But the Word did not remain inside the church. After the dedication event, the group visited Serbia’s only Roma cultural institution, where guests heard a presentation on Roma history. During the broader Roma Day celebration, local organizers invited the translation teams to participate in a larger public event.

Around a thousand people had gathered. Given twenty minutes to speak, the teams shared about the New Testament, connected its message to the coming Easter weekend, and openly shared the gospel.

Nikola read from the Arli New Testament. From a stand in the street, the teams invited people to receive New Testament copies for themselves. People came with joy. Some even danced with the books in their hands.

Even those outside the church recognized the significance. One highly educated Roma community leader, a teacher who was not a Christian, told the teams they had “written history” for their people.

The movement did not stop in Serbia. In April 2026, Roma churches in Sweden sponsored travel so New Testaments could be brought to them in person. In May, Nikola and a small team traveled through Germany, distributing approximately 800 Arli and 100 Gurbet New Testaments to Roma churches in Berlin, Hamburg, Lubeck, Solingen, and Siegburg.

“Throughout the entire mission,” Nikola reported, “it became abundantly clear how real and deep the hunger is for God’s Word in the mother tongue.”

In Berlin, the story became deeply personal. There, Nikola met up with his parents. He placed a translated New Testament into his father’s hand. “For this,” he told them, “I have dedicated my life, my time, and my heart - so our people can read God’s Word in their mother tongue.”

“I wanted to do something special for my people,” Nikola says. “But God told me, ‘No. You will not do that. I will do it for you.’”

God’s answer drew Nikola into something far greater than he had imagined. As Scripture says:

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” - Ephesians 2:10, NIV