They may be deaf or hearing impaired physically but spiritually their ears are opened by the Lord and they have come to know Christ and to follow him. Pastor Barnabas Phua has retired after decades of faithful and fruitful service and the ministry staff Mui Keng is now in charge. While I was their senior pastor, I could not help them much. I preach there once or twice a year because I have to be at the English congregation most of the time. Now that I have retired, I have more time to preach there. In fact, after retirement, I preach there four or five times a year.
I do enjoy these preaching opportunities. Communicating with the deaf has its challenges. Abstract ideas are difficult to communicate. To give them a definition of “faith” in abstract terms makes it difficult for them to grasp. I have to concretize it into a story like how Abraham believed in God and demonstrated his faith by forsaking his household gods to follow God, and by accepting God would fulfil his promise and give him a descendant when Sarah is barren and he is already old. To make it even clearer, I have to provide them with practical examples of what faith looks like in today’s life situations and context. It trains me to condense a message to its bare essential truth and explain, illustrate, and apply it multiple times. I learn to keep it simple and understandable. In other words, I have to preach the way Jesus preached!
Jesus did not have to do PowerPoint slides, but I had to do many slides because though they cannot hear, they can see. A picture is worth a thousand words and it really helps them understand.
I work with someone who translates my message, using American sign language and gestures of face and hands that express what I mean. This in itself isn’t easy. Furthermore, I like to converse with them from the pulpit to keep them engaged, asking questions, and hearing their replies. More work for the interpreter! This requires thorough and earlier preparation so that the interpreter can have the slides and message notes beforehand. This helps the interpreter to get ready. The advantage of an interpreter is that I have time to frame the next sentence while she is interpreting my earlier sentence. I can also observe the cues from their body language that tell me if they understand and are engaged with what I have been saying.
The deaf members appreciate my preaching. They find it relevant and helpful. I normally pray that God will fill up where I may fail to deliver. God is faithful and he always does his work of guiding them into all truth.
If you know of deaf people who need a church family please direct them to Deaf Faith Fellowship. They worship in the same building (on the third floor) as World Revival Prayer Fellowship , and are the deaf congregation of the church.
