Deaf Ministry and the Local Church
I have a deaf brother whom I’ve always been close to and though he is 7 years older than me, we’ve always had a special connection. That connection has had a major impact on my whole life. Watching my brother, who had a friendly fun-loving personality, go through his teenage years often struggling to communicate with his hearing peers, helped foster a strong sense of compassion for deaf people. Eventually God used this connection to lead me into a career serving as a sign language interpreter which I’ve done for 33 years now. Currently, I am the Director of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services for Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, but I will always think of myself as simply an interpreter who provides communication access between the deaf and hearing worlds.
It all started in south Florida back in the sixties and seventies before the American Disabilities Act was established and access to most public events, education, and churches was extremely limited to the deaf community. My family heard of a local Baptist church that provided interpreters for the deaf, so we began to attend. I was immediately fascinated by the work of the interpreters each week and took advantage of a sign language class they offered those in the church who were interested in communicating with the deaf members. I fell in love with American sign language and knew early on that God was leading me to work with deaf people because he had given me a “deaf heart” long before. Now I was eager to learn more of what this beautiful language could teach me. My brother had some knowledge of sign language, but back in the fifties and sixties when he was growing up, sign language was not the accepted and respected language it is today. He, along with other many deaf children, were sent to “oral schools” where speech therapy and English were stressed. When he would gather with his deaf friends on the weekends, they would always communicate through their “heart language” of sign.
When I think back on the influence of that church and its deaf ministry on our family, I am amazed at how beautifully God uses the body of Christ to serve and lead others to him. My brother heard the gospel for the first time in that church and received Christ as his personal savior. I found my life long calling to sign language and a career that has blessed me in ways I could never have imagined. Many doors of access have swung widely open to deaf people since those days, but there is still a strong need for churches to open their hearts and minds to the deaf community. They are often an overlooked people group in churches around the world, and their need to connect with other believers and to hear the gospel is the same as any hearing person. I know the powerful impact a local church deaf ministry can have on a family. It’s a beautiful thing, and so is the language of sign that brought it all together for us.
Jackie Owen, Director of Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services / Interpreter at Liberty University