We need to offer Christ to all—including the deaf
Sam Carpentar
Northern Hills UMC,
San Antonio
Did you know the Southwest Texas Conference has a congregation dedicated to the deaf and hard of hearing? It is not a church with an interpreter. It is a church where the deaf worship, pray, sing, study, fellowship and serve in their own native language—American Sign Language.
Since deafness is invisible, we meet deaf people daily and don’t know it. As a result, we have no idea how desperately outreach to the deaf is needed. Consider:
> 98.5 percent of deaf people around the world are non-Christian.
> San Antonio alone has 141,000 people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
These are startling statistics. But why deaf church? Why not just provide an interpreter?
An interpreted service, though good, is just that—an interpretation of the service. In this setting the deaf are not participants. They are spectators.
Praise God for churches that provide interpreted ministry for the deaf, but consider this: At the Deaf Church the full spectrum of ministry is made directly available to the deaf by providing a place to worship and a pastor who communicates directly with them in their own language. At the Deaf Church, the deaf are actively involved in their own worship services, which are designed specifically for them.
The Deaf Church at Northern Hills UMC, San Antonio, meets for worship at 11 a.m. Sundays in the chapel while Northern Hills’ hearing congregation meets in the worship center.
Deaf Church conducts a weekly prayer and Holy Communion service, a weekly Bible study, weekly “signing” choir practice and a monthly potluck fellowship meal.
But Deaf Church does more. Deaf Church serves. Deaf Church has provided school clothes for needy children, worked on a Habitat house, ministered to the homeless through Mission Under the Bridge, donated a used vehicle to a needy family, arranged to provide a new roof to the home of a family whose roof was collapsing, and has twice joined the International Christian Centers for the Deaf on mission trips to their school for deaf children in Rio Bravo, Mexico.
Are there deaf people in your community? What about the children? We know there are hundreds of deaf children and teens in our area. None that we know of worship in any of our local United Methodist congregations, and only a handful go to other churches.
That’s a matter of great concern to us. Please pray for these children, and please join with us as we ask Christ to send workers into his harvest field so that we may indeed offer Christ to all—including the deaf.
If you would like to learn more about how your church can reach out to the deaf in your community, visit www.nhumc.org.
Bishop’s teachings leave lasting influence
S. Merle Waters
St. Andrew's UMC,
San Antoino
The office of bishop in the United Methodist connectional system is forever a part of its strength, charm and character.
That charm extends back to the first two bishops, Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke, who are forever held in sacred memory in the name of our bookstore and publishing house, “Cokesbury.”
New bishops will be elected in 2008 at five jurisdictional conferences, perpetuating further that “endless line of splendor.”
After Bishop A. Frank Smith’s long tenure in the San Antonio Episcopal Area, along came Bishop Paul Galloway in 1960, fresh from the pastorate of the prestigious Boston Avenue church in Tulsa, Okla. He brought zeal and many insights to enhance all of our ministries.
Bishop Galloway advised us to receive adults into membership when the spirit first moved them to come forward.
“We can train them in Christian discipleship all the rest of the way,” he counseled. He believed that every phone call should be answered on the first or second ring with enthusiasm and with a voice of genuine welcome and caring.
The same should be true of every greeter and usher.
He urged every pastor to be well groomed and properly dressed. He said clergymen should wear knee-high socks so bare legs wouldn’t be exposed when pastors crossed their legs.
One spring when one of our pastors was thought to be in line for appointment as a district superintendent, he received a single long black sock with a note: “If you make it, we’ll give you the other one.”
Bishop Galloway was a stickler on grammatical correctness. In his preaching he sometimes took on the Apostle Paul’s long compound sentences. He would diagram them and talk about the “subject,” the “object” and the predicate or action verb—like “walk in newness of life,” “must share,” or “rejoice in the truth.”
He spoke about the word “A-men,” reminding us that the “A” is long when spoken and short when sung or used poetically. Most members of the clergy, however, still said: “am….”
The bishop’s favorite hymn was “How Great Thou Art,” composed in 1953. Perhaps he was instrumental in having it included in the 1989 United Methodist Hymnal among the powerful hymns on the glory of God.
Thank you, Bishop Galloway. Your favorite hymn focused on the heart of it all, the awesome beauty, wonder and power of God as made known to us in Christ, our Lord.
That suggests to us again the basic gospel truth that we all glory in proclaiming by thought, word and deed over and over again. It is reminiscent of Bishop John Moore’s admonition at the end of every annual conference session: Just go back to your churches, and tell them again about “Jesus” our Lord and our Redeemer.
