Help Deaf People Open Their Hearts to God This Christmas
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22 (NIV)
Jennifer Ceyanes (2nd from left) with LFD staff members (L to R), Rev. Thomas Dunseth, Director of Deaf Ministry Educational and International Programs, Deaconess Phyllis Yee, Coordinator of Ministry Support Services and Deaconess Tiffany Manor, Director of Ministry Support Services.
On a beautiful Christmas morning, you gather in church with family and friends to receive the Word of God. You converse with each other, offering handshakes of comfort and peace, filling your soul with faith and hope. You lean on one another as a community, issuing the feeling of togetherness: You simply belong.
You’re unable to hear your favorite Gospel passage. You’re incapable of feeling the power of the hymns as they flow through the air. You have no spiritual safe haven. You just feel… lost, like so many Deaf people around the world… people like Jennifer Ceyanes.
Jennifer was born profoundly Deaf in both ears. She grew up in a “hearing” world, surrounded by hearing parents and went to a hearing school with a Sign Language interpreter.
“My family went to church every Sunday and I was the only Deaf person there,” says Jennifer.
“My parents were fluent in American Sign Language, thankfully, and would interpret for me during the service, but many of my Deaf friends aren’t as lucky. They don’t want to go to church because they feel left out and just don’t understand what is going on.”
It’s estimated that only 2% of people who are Deaf attend a Christian church and that approximately 95% have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
You can help change this.
