Is someone missing from your congregation? HOLSTON CHURCHES OPEN DOORS TO THE DEAF
By Annette Bender
It's Maundy Thursday at West End United Methodist Church, and the mood is anything but solemn. At the refreshment table, people are laughing, talking, celebrating. Moments ago, the Wytheville District church did what it does every Maundy Thursday. Several men dressed as disciples and reenacted the Last Supper. Except this year, Jesus was deaf, and he used sign language to talk to his disciples.
It was a proud moment for a congregation that has opened its doors to a group of deaf people who drive as far as 25 miles to worship.
"How would you feel if you went to a foreign country, and no one ever spoke English to you?" says Gary Grubb, reflecting on his church's deaf ministry as he waits patiently for soda and cookies. Like some of his fellow parishioners, Grubb is learning sign language so that he can converse with deaf members and guests.
"Even though I don't sign well, they're very patient. It really tickles them when you try."
Through the efforts of the Rev. Steve Johnson, West End is one of a handful of Holston congregations and individuals reaching out to a segment of society that some say are being neglected.
Although there are 28 million people with hearing loss in the United States, less than 1 percent of them identify themselves as Christians, and even fewer attend church, according to the senior pastor of Christ United Methodist Church for the Deaf in Baltimore. The Rev. Peggy Johnson has visited West End UMC and is familiar with Steve Johnson's ministry. She is a former consultant with the National Committee on Ministries with the Deaf, Late-Deafened, Hard of Hearing and Deaf- Blind People.
"When deaf people become part of the community, the Body of Christ is enriched," Peggy Johnson said, commenting on how a deaf young man at West End UMC played Jesus in the Last Supper drama. "Until then, they're just decorations, sitting on the front pew."
Steve Johnson became interested in deaf ministries while sitting on a plane next to Peggy Johnson on the way to Israel in 1990. "I do not like sitting in cramped spaces," Steve Johnson says with amusement, "so I kept asking her things about her ministry."
Steve Johnson is not deaf, but he was inspired to learn more and more about ministering to the deaf over the years. ("It was one of those things where God kept pulling me through the door.") Choirs from Christ UMC for the Deaf visited his churches, and in the 1990s, his youth drama troupe from Rock Springs UMC (Kingsport District) learned basic sign language and visited the Baltimore church.
"When I landed here, I deliberately sought out deaf folks," he says of his arrival at West End UMC in 2000. He and his wife asked if anyone knew any deaf people, looked for road signs that said, "Slow, deaf child," and literally knocked on doors to invite people to church.
Today, West End has a sign language interpreter on staff (a $2,040 addition to the church budget). About three deaf people attend the church regularly. About six to 12 participate in special gatherings like Maundy Thursday or a monthly coffee house. Johnson has collected a mailing list and sends out notices when signing is going to be offered at special events. People drive from Pulaski, Floyd, Austinville, Speedwell, and other Virginia towns, because they have learned that West End is welcoming to deaf people.
"People here have a big heart," says Carroll Thomas, when asked why he drove 24 miles from Pulaski for the Maundy Thursday service.
Hungry for community
People also drive long distances to Trinity UMC in the Big Stone Gap District -- because sign language is offered on the second and fourth Sundays, but also, because the Rev. Ronnie Mutter has been hard of hearing since birth.
Deaf people like to be with other deaf people, says Mutter, who wears hearing aids and also reads lips in order to communicate. Both of his parents were deaf.
"Because I'm deaf, people feel better when they come to my church," he says. People are hungry to be part of the community."
About eight deaf people attend Trinity regularly. Some learned about Trinity through the TV broadcast of the church's services, which reaches 40,000 homes and also features sign language.
Hiring an interpreter can be expensive and probably won't attract droves of newcomers to the pews, church leaders say.
"Having a deaf ministry is probably not going to be the cutting edge of growth," says Johnson, "so if you're looking to help your budget, this isn't going to do it."
However, some church leaders believe that ministries for the deaf and for the hard of hearing are an untapped frontier, especially as the population ages.
"We are so far behind in communicating with hearing-impaired people," says Mutter. "We care about everyone else, but we've left the deaf people behind."
Sign language is crucial to the people who know and use it and may be a good place to start when building a deaf community, church leaders say. Sign interpreters were provided at Resurrection 2005 and at a previous Annual Conference. But of the 28 million people with hearing loss in this country, only two million know sign language, Peggy Johnson says. Many lose their hearing later in life and tend to deny it, are unaware of assistive equipment, or don't know how to ask for help. Hearing loss affects a third of all senior citizens, according to the General Board of Global Ministries' National Committee on Ministries with the Deaf.
"Every church with members over the age of 65 could have a deaf ministry today," Johnson says. "It's a serious pastoral crisis for people. Many times it doesn't come to the forefront because of the stigma, but there are legions of people with hearing loss in every pew, every church, every conference."
What to do
Some churches or individuals are inspired to begin deaf ministries when a deaf or hearing-impaired person begins attending church or is already part of the congregation. Rather than wait for an incentive, Peggy Johnson suggests that churches form a task force to study what hearing-loss needs might exist in their congregations.
"I know that is such a United Methodist thing to do - form a committee," she says. "But I guarantee that a study will produce people who are missing from the congregation."
Both Steve Johnson and Peggy Johnson note that Knoxville is home of the Tennessee School for the Deaf, and a deaf population exists around Knoxville churches. Because East Tennessee State University and local community colleges offer deaf education, the Tri-Cities area also has a large deaf population.
The book, "Signs of Solidarity: Ministry with Deaf, Late-Deafened, Hard of Hearing, or Deaf-Blind People," from the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM), will aid congregations in involving persons with auditory or optic losses, Peggy Johnson said. The book is available for $7 plus shipping and handling by calling 1-800-305- 9857. (Information is also available at the GBGM web address, http:// gbgm-umc.org/disc/deafministries. stm, or Steve Johnson is available to answer questions at 276-223-0326.)
Other than interpreters, churches may consider investing in assistive listening devices for the hard of hearing. These hard-wired or wireless transmitting and receiving devices send sound from the microphone directly to the listener, minimizing the negative effects of distance and noise. Next month, assistive listening devices will be made available for participants of the Holston Annual Conference in Lake Junaluska, N.C.
Congregations can also help the hearing-impaired by making worship services more visual, with Power Point presentations and good lighting, Peggy Johnson said. Another option is "computer assisted notetaking," a system in which a typist transcribes a summary of the spoken words, which are then projected on a laptop or screen.
Congregations may also consider deaf ministry as a form of outreach, since "it takes a lot for a deaf person to walk into a church," said Peggy Johnson. Being deaf in itself is isolating, so deaf people who are in prison, hospitals or other institutions tend to be "doubly isolated," she notes. "We need to go to them."
Finally, it's important for congregations to be welcoming to deaf people just as they should be to all people - while recognizing that communicating with deaf people is intimidating or even frightening to many hearing people. Deaf people are hurt or feel shunned when hearing people won't make eye contact or otherwise avoid them, according to Steve Johnson and Mutter.
The goal is to foster a community like the one at West End, where the adult and children's choirs have learned to sign a few hymns and members make an effort to include the non-hearing in activities such as a Maundy Thursday drama.
"We really do try hard not to separate them, to make them feel as welcome as we can," says Steve Johnson. "We want to make them feel like they're part of the family."
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