The Deaf Community and the Church
At last count nearly 150 different language groups have engaged in ONE 2021. That is far more than we ever could have envisioned! Our God is good...and His plan is always better and more impactful than ours.
One of the language groups engaging in ONE is a local American Sign Language (ASL) community. The Deaf community is one of the most unreached people groups in the world, so we wanted to take a moment and celebrate this dynamic partnership! We connected with Kevin Cartwright, Pastor of the Westside Deaf Church, to learn more about the Deaf community and their participation in the ONE Initiative.
We hope you will press into the following conversation and that it sparks a greater desire to know and commune with our brothers and sisters of the Deaf community.
Q: In what ways has the deaf church engaged in ONE?
Kevin: I’m preaching through Mark on Sundays, covering roughly the same portions of Scripture as the WFC service and tying the message to the overall storyline of Mark’s Gospel.
The daily listening plan has been the most difficult to adapt; It is, afterall, based on an app completely dependent upon hearing. Fortunately, however, there is a sister app—the Deaf Bible app—that contains the first ASL translation of the Bible (a project that took some ~30 years to complete). I’ve been posting the daily Scripture portions to our Facebook group (Westside Deaf Church) with a link to Deaf Bible where the passage starts. I’ve been watching the Scriptures in ASL, but I have to admit that it is difficult to do on a daily basis. I listen to audiobooks all the time while I’m doing other things like washing the dishes, folding laundry, or working in the yard. You can’t do that with ASL. You have to watch it. You have to give it your full attention, but since we’re talking about spending time with God through His word, that’s probably a good thing.
We are also watching the Gospel of Mark movie on Sunday nights. Two guys have been coming, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. The visual nature of the movie helps them envision the stories, and we’ve had some lively discussions following the film.
Q: For those who may not know, can you give a little bit of insight into the experience of the Deaf community?
Kevin: Well, for starters, this is a very complicated question to answer. I have to assert up front that I am not trying to speak on behalf the Deaf community, which is itself a diverse community made up of individuals whose backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives vary greatly. As a hearing person, my knowledge of the Deaf community is second-hand, having been obtained through friendships, conversations, and even textbooks written in the field of Deaf Studies.
Being culturally Deaf involves much more than having a hearing loss.
As you can see, there are at least political, social, and linguistic components to the Deaf community in addition to their common experience of hearing loss and the challenges of navigating and succeeding in the “hearing world.”
There is one concept that touches every sphere of the diagram above: LANGUAGE. While the linguistic component of the diagram relates to one’s first/preferred language of communication and social interaction, here I’m speaking more about ACCESS to information and even language (both ASL = American Sign Language and English) itself. When approximately 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, unless those parents decide immediately to enroll in some kind of ASL class or mentoring program both for themselves and their child, then the likelihood of that child entering kindergarten with a severe deficit in language/vocabulary is high. Furthermore, neuroscience has proven the function of language in brain, not to mention social and emotional, development. Beginning life with language deprivation has profound effects that can persist into adulthood. However, a growing body of research is demonstrating that with early access to ASL, the deaf child is better equipped to learn both ASL and English in the future. While the political fight for accessibility has led to the wider availability of interpreters and closed captioning in many spheres of everyday life, and developments in technology have also sought to alleviate the burdens of communication between the Deaf and their hearing counterparts, there is still much to be done in terms of accessibility.
Q: Have there been unique challenges in the Deaf community in regard to connecting with the Church?
Kevin: Yes, I believe so. If I had to summarize it in one statement, I would say that the main obstacle hindering Deaf people from connecting with the Church is a failure on the part of the hearing to recognize the unique cultural and linguistic needs of the Deaf community in order to provide full access to the gospel of Jesus Christ. What that means and what the solution might be is a much longer conversation.
Perhaps a better way to phrase the question might be, “What are the unique challenges that hinder those in the Deaf community from connecting with God and being reconciled to Him through Christ?” I say that because the best way for them to encounter Christ might be in a culturally Deaf expression of the Church (i.e., a local Deaf church) rather than being incorporated into a hearing church. At Westside, we are taking a blended approach that seeks incorporate various models of Deaf ministry and offers the benefits of Deaf Church along with interpreted ministries and opportunities to interact with the hearing church, thus mutually edifying one another. Nevertheless, it is important to maintain the important role that local Deaf churches can play.
Q: What are ways that the hearing community can better engage the deaf community?
Kevin: Respect and dignify them as people made in the image of God by seeking relationships with them and treating them as equals. Communicate with them—use pen & paper, gesture, learn ASL, do whatever you can. Love them in Jesus’ name, and by all means share the gospel with them.
If you’d like to continue to learn more about engaging the Deaf Community, email Kevin Cartwright: kcartwright@westsidefamily.church
Additional resources:
A helpful introduction to Deaf culture with book recommendations can be found at: https://www.startasl.com/deaf-culture.
Helpful diagrams of the Deaf community can be found at: https://www.startasl.com/deaf-community.
