Also see:
Church 2 |
Dean
Hoodenpyl
11/04/2007
Church on a
Sunny Sunday
While heading to church on a sunny Sunday fall day in rural Eastern
Oregon, I struggled with what topic to use in my school research
paper – time was running out! At church I found my seat and tuned in
my Cochlear implant to listen to the opening message. Once the music
began, as usual, I turned off my implant (regardless of what is
promoted about the blasted things, to a once trained musician, music
through an implant all sounds like gobblie goop). I then tuned in
for the message. As usual, despite all efforts on behalf of the
church to accommodate my hearing loss with sound system, I spent the
majority of the message changing channels and volumes trying to keep
up with pastor’s excitement. Many a sermon has found me given up and
snoozing or daydreaming…….. Ah hah (or in this case I guess the
appropriate term is “Pah”), there was my research project, namely,
the movement of church involvement in working with the Deaf and Hard
of Hearing.
The Deaf and HOH Culture Information page has a brief but well
diagramed history of people who were influential in communication
development for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Interestingly enough
church clergy had a significant involvement early on. In the 1500’s
Pedro Ponce De Leon, a Catholic monk, established the world’s first
school for the Deaf. From the 1600’s through the 1800’s others such
as; Charles Michel De L’Eppe , a priest, Abbe Roch Sicard, and
German Pastor J.F.L. Arnoldi had a profound impact on communication
development, not to ignore the fact that they surely were advancing
the purpose of the church. Unfortunately the churches clergy were
absent (absent in at least this historical resource) from the 1900’s
through the present (Lauri, 2004). So what’s up with our modern day
churches work with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing anyhow?
Pastor Brian Sims of Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood Tenn.
stated that recent studies have shown that between 80 percent and 90
percent of Deaf people don’t attend church. He believes this is due
to a lack of interpreters and other accommodations (French, 2007).
Kathy Black, professor at Claremont School of Theology and a former
chaplain at Gallaudet University said “there are likely fewer deaf
ministries now then in the past because many don’t get the funding
they need to survive” (French 2007). Ah ha! There you have it! One
of the plagues of the modern church in America “MONEY”. I bet that
Ponce and the aforementioned clergy didn’t allow finances to block
their way! It seems that Pastor Sims found some finances somewhere.
He started the Brentwood Baptist Deaf Church. He placed more than 30
speakers under the floor of the church so Deaf members could feel
the music. He put in a loop system for hearing aid users to tap
into. He made the pews larger for signing room (French, 2007).
Delightfully, Canaan Baptist Church out of Michigan has put together
a 10 member Deaf choir for their church called “Hands or Praise.”
The response has been phenomenal and has given new life to the Deaf
ministry in that area (Jaksa, 2005).
Brentwood and Canaan Baptist Churches, according to the National
Association for the Deaf, are among the only 1000 Deaf congregations
in the US – and there are over 30 million Deaf and Hard of Hearing
(French, 2007). Obviously the Church as a whole has dropped the ball
in this area and those hard working few in the aforementioned
churches are the example that needs to be followed.
In an article titled “Ten Reasons Why the Church Needs to Embrace
the Deaf Culture” number 7 reads as follows; “Deaf people think
church is a hearing culture function. They don’t feel a sense of
connectedness to church. It’s rare that you’ll go to church where
there’s an interpreter with phenomenal skills who understands Deaf
Culture. That results in information transfer so slow it’s a waste
of time. That’s why many well-educated people don’t go to church!”
(Anonymous Deaf person, 1998)
While at church on a sunny Sunday late fall day in rural Eastern
Oregon, I asked the pastor of our small Baptist church, “Mike, how
would you accommodate a truly Deaf individual who wanted to attend
this church?” and he answered “ Sorry, but we have nothing to offer
the Deaf” ……. We got some work to do!
References
Lauri (2004, November
23) Deaf History Deaf and HOH Culture Information (formerly
Lauri’s Hompage) Retrieved 3, Nov. 2007
<http://www.aol.com/deafcultureinfo/deaf_history.htm>
French, Rose (2007,
February 22) Baptist Church Leads the way in Deaf ministry
The Christian Post . Retrieved 3, Nov 2007 <http://www.christianpost.com/pages/print.htm?aid=25973>
Jaksa, George (2005,
October 29) Deaf choir fills church with signed music
Hearing Loss News and Reviews. Retrieved 2, Nov 2007
<http://www.4herringloss.com/archives/2005/10/deaf_choir_fill.html>
Anonymous Deaf person
(1998) Ten reasons why the church needs to embrace Deaf Culture
Deaf World Ministries. Retrieved 4, Nov 2007
<http://www.deafworldministries.com/articles.html>
Notes:
In a message dated 10/11/2011 9:59:52 A.M. Pacific Daylight
Time, othermollie writes:
The notes on churches and services etc that i saw on the
site were a little old. You maybe have this information.
There are sign language congregations all over that use
sign language. Here in US, ASL. Call Jehovah's witnesses
wherever you are to find locations in the area.
Sometimes the drive is a little long, sometimes in your
area. There are about 65 people in my congregation in
Eugene, Oregon. Also, conventions (bible based) happen
three times yearly with between 600 -1000 attending.
Also they offer a FREE Bible in full ASL (not just close
captions).
- Mollie Jones