A major congress of Jehovah's Witnesses Roma was held in the Stavropol Territory

On November 27, 2016, a 6-hour service was held in the village of Nezlobnaya (Stavropol Territory), which was attended by 500 Roma professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Joy and excitement reigned at the service. Many were touched to listen to the reading and explanation of the Bible in their own language, pray and sing songs of praise to God in the Vlaš dialect of the Gypsy language.

Many believers were accompanied by their family members, who patiently remained in their seats and listened attentively to speeches and interviews in their native language. They were surprised that speakers of different Gypsy dialects, who usually avoid communicating with each other, communicated in a friendly manner at the service.

Jehovah's Witnesses carry the gospel good news in three Gypsy dialects of Russia—Vlasch, Kotlyar, and Gypsy North Russian. Translation is complicated by the fact that there is little or no writing and grammar in the Romani languages. For example, in order to publish publications in Vlachi, translators had to develop 4 new Cyrillic characters.

Such contributions to the development of small languages are not uncommon for Jehovah's Witnesses. For example, liturgical publications of Jehovah's Witnesses have been published in more than 10 other Roma languages and dialects for Roma believers living in Albania, Argentina, Bulgaria, Chile, Germany, Greece, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine.