The following is a copy of an article from the United Methodist Church Global Ministries Web Site (http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/full_article.cfm?articleid=4359). Click on the graphic below to go to theUMC Global Ministries Web Site.



Deaf Ministries at Christ Church and Around the World
by Mary Beth Coudal

“Laying on hands” has a special meaning for the people who are deaf-blind and can experience God through touching the hands of someone who is interpreting into sign language. Every Sunday, about six people have the Sunday worship service placed in their hands like this at the United Methodist Christ Church for the Deaf in Baltimore, Maryland.

“They are literally feeling the power of the word,” said Rev. Peggy Johnson, pastor at Christ Church. Since 1895, this particular United Methodist Church has had “a long love affair” with ministry to people who are deaf, late-deafened, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind, said Rev. Johnson.

Christ Church is one of the few churches in the United States – to minister to and with this vibrant, yet often ignored, community. Through Christ Church’s Shalom Deaf Zone and its connection to Global Ministries, this unique church is taking its message beyond its walls to reach out to deaf communities around the world.

A Mission to the World

In 2006, a United Methodist Volunteer in Mission team from Christ Church traveled to Cuba. Rev. Johnson was enthusiastic about the trip, “The deaf people are just hungry for the word of God in their language. In Cuba, they had sign language, but no one ever told them about Jesus.”

One difficulty communicating among the deaf communities is that every country has a different sign language, according to Rev. Johnson. An earlier mission trip from Christ Church to Kenya several years ago revealed great poverty, however the deaf people meeting one another felt a rich and strong connection because they shared a common sign language.

In previous years, Christ Church members connected with dozens of deaf people, not only in Kenya, but also through several mission trips to Zimbabwe. There, Rev. Johnson said she saw, “A screaming need for deaf people to learn about AIDS. Communication is vital towards fighting the disease.”

In Mutare, Zimbabwe, deaf people attended church for the first time through a Global Ministires Shalom Zone. With the support of Baltimore’s Christ Church and other United Methodist churches and conferences supporting the exchange, the deaf community in Mutare now has their own pastor, The Rev. Amos Muyambo.

Funding to Help

The number of people experiencing deafness in every country is growing. “Of people over 55 years old, 25 percent will have some hearing loss. When you factor in the age of our denomination, it could be half of our denomination we are losing or not reaching,” explained The Rev. Tom Hudspeth, president, United Methodist committee on ministries with deaf, late-deafened, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind people.

Grants are available from this committee to make United Methodist Churches more equipped to aid the deaf community. For example, churches have received the maximum grant of $5,000 to defray some of the cost of installing assisted- listening systems. The committee has also given grants to send the mission team to Cuba, to support a school for the deaf in Liberia, and to train deaf adults at a Korean Methodist Mission in the Philippines.

Advocacy

The work of the Global Ministries extends to world-wide advocacy for the people marginalized by handicapping conditions. On December 13, 2006, Patricia Magyar, an executive of Global Ministries, was at the United Nations to show support for the signing of a comprehensive human rights law protecting the rights of people with disabilities (which the United States has not signed).

“When 650 million people are living with disability in this world, as the United Nations projects, it is a human rights issue,” said Ms. Magyar.

Global Ministries contributes to the work of advocacy, accessible church services, mission trips, funding projects, and communication.

Lessons from the Deaf Community

“Deaf people say, ‘We are part of this body, please don’t leave us out.’ This is the invisible disability. They get left out of communication, which is a vehicle for our evangelism,” said Rev. Johnson, who is not deaf. However, she claims her work at Christ Church with the deaf community has led her to a deeper understanding of God.

“We are really touching God through their witness, patience, and faith in God to get through their daily struggles…They teach me and inform me of God and God’s faithfulness,” said Rev. Johnson.

For information on the United Methodist committee on ministries with deaf, late-deafened, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind people, including funding opportunities, visit the website www.umcsignsofsolidarity.org