Why Deaf Churches in America

by Reggie Rempel

Picture this. Your family is on vacation and having a wonderful time. Tomorrow is Sunday. In preparation you google a listing of Baptist/Independent Baptist churches within a 30-minute radius of your vacation spot. There are quite a few so you google a question or search their websites asking, “Is there a Deaf Ministry in this congregation?” When the answers come back, there are very few if any. You choose a church and attend only to find that although they advertise a Deaf Ministry, the interpreter has not interpreted in months or years because deaf persons have not attended. However, he/she would be glad to interpret. Not to be rude, you (the deaf person) accept, only to find that the interpreter is “rusty” or not really skilled in signs and you miss one half to three fourths of the message. It is not the interpreter’s fault. They must have people to sign for in order to interpret. This is so prevalent that the deaf person leaves saying, “Well, at least I went to church.” This has happened often in my life. Can you imagine trying to find a Deaf Church to attend? That is even harder as there may only be one to three Deaf churches in a whole state and many states have none.

My name is Reggie Rempel. My wife, Kim, and I have served with BIMI for 44 years. We count it an honor and privilege to serve with these precious people. I was born to a Mennonite family who were strong believers in church attendance and in faithfulness to the Lord. I attended church every week but had no interpreter. Mom would at times write the sermon notes for me and my deaf sister, Millie, to read. She was better about paying attention than I was because I felt there were more interesting things in life than warming a church pew and watching people move their mouths but not understanding anything said. Why would I want a God who would require this? I became very rebellious. I praise Him that He is “a God who sees” and He saw me in that tiny Mennonite village and sent someone who shared with my mom and dad about the Bill Rice Ranch. The next thing I knew, I was on a bus to Tennessee. My parents drove me to a church with a Deaf Ministry in Minneapolis and from there I rode for 13 hours to camp. We stopped in Chicago, where another group joined us, and I was told I needed to get a haircut to continue. I was rebellious and fought them on this but in the end they won and I praise the Lord they did. I arrived at the Ranch and walked in shock for the next 24 hours. It was a total Deaf Community with services in my language and with a speaker using sign language. All that my parents had tried to convey to me became clear, and I was saved on Wednesday night. I did not walk the aisle, I ran. I was so excited to know Him as Savior and have heaven for my home. I do not want to prolong my testimony except to say that God became real to me and my life was changed.

A church planter from America came to plant a church in Winnipeg, the largest city close to my village. Millie and I spent months and then years teaching sign language to the church secretary who was willing to interpret every service for us. I praise the Lord for churches who are willing to have a ministry for the Deaf. Without those beginning years of receiving the Word of God through a sign interpreter, I do not know where I would be today.

When Kim and I were married, we traveled for 12 years planting Deaf Ministries in churches by teaching sign language and finding the Deaf in the community. We found that these ministries were producing young people who felt led to serve Him full-time. This led us to seek the Lord and begin Harvest Deaf Bible College in the fall of 1994. It has been 31 years and we have graduates in countries around the world as well as Deaf church plants across America.

In the beginning days of our college, we were approached by the pastor of Stanley Heights Baptist Church in East Ridge, Tennessee. They were kind and loving enough to allow us to begin our college in their facilities until the property we purchased was developed. One can imagine the sacrifice made by this church as we used everything from classrooms to the kitchen. The pastor even gave me an office. He was willing to do whatever was needed to help the Deaf coming to college develop and grow in Him. I shared with him that allowing our Deaf to have one service on their own on Sunday mornings would develop them faster as this service would be “theirs.” They would teach Sunday school, prepare the service with music and ushers, and they would “see” the Word being preached in their own language rather than through interpretation. He agreed and named me “Deaf Pastor.” I was able to shepherd these people and as a result, the ministry boomed to almost 100 Deaf attending from all over the area. We did mainstream with the hearing on Sunday evenings and Wednesdays. I shared with the pastor from our first service there that I felt led to begin a Deaf church one day so our young men could see what planting a church both in the United states and the foreign field would require.

As the years passed and our property began to develop, I began to notice that while the ministry was growing, the young people we were training were being “spoiled.” We had a beautiful church in which to worship and grow, but they were not learning to keep up the building as janitors did this. They were learning to give but did not do so enough to pay for electricity, water, and facility needs. They did not understand about creating a church constitution or the facets of building the church. They gave to missions but would look at the hearing part of the congregation and say, “They can do more in supporting hearing missionaries than we Deaf can.” I knew that it was time to branch out and begin a local church for the Deaf. We did and I thank God for the graciousness of the folks at Stanley Heights as this was a huge change for them in the loss of so many people.

Harvest Baptist Church for the Deaf began in 2000 in the renovated barn loft on our property. We now have the church in an auditorium that was four modular buildings donated to us by Clark University in Atlanta. We average between 70 and 80 each Sunday and have ministries vital to the growth and education of our people such as Sunday school for all ages, deacons, ushers, youth ministry, large choir, discipleship program, Deaf Camp, retreats, livestreaming of each service, large Christmas Drama each December, and support of over 40 missionaries. We have created and then recreated our church constitution and we have financial and missions committees in which deaf people serve. The deaf people thrive by being involved with the facets of the ministry as they build the church.

Please know that I love Deaf Ministries. Where would I be without them? I praise God for the people who surrender their lives to learn sign language so that the Deaf can “see” God’s Word. However, just as times have changed in this world with people who can hear, it has changed for the Deaf. Deaf people have better ways to communicate as they have Video Relay phones with interpreters that allow them to communicate freely with anyone. They have interpreters for everything from job interviews to giving birth to a baby. They can attend schools of their choice and interpreters are provided. More people than ever know sign language as it is considered a second language taught in schools across America. There are devices on the phone that change voice to text and even glasses that allow conversations to be captioned while wearing them. I praise the Lord as a deaf man for all these developments that have made life easier. This has also caused many of the Deaf to desire a church setting in their own culture and language rather than struggling to get the message through an interpreter. We livestream our services each Sunday and Wednesday and people who live in areas with no Deaf Church or Deaf Ministry view our services. They communicate with us through email and text and thank us for providing a service. They ask questions and some even move to our area to become a part of our church.

There is a tremendous need for more Deaf churches in the United States. Through Deaf churches, young people are developed and we are able to bring them to our college for training in missions, church planting, and various other ministries. As a result, the Word of God reaches more who have never heard across the world. If one takes all the Deaf from around the world and places them on an island together, it would be the third largest country in the world!1 Imagine with me all the Deaf who still have not “seen” about Jesus and how He can change their lives.

I believe Deaf Ministries are a tremendous help but the Deaf learn much more in their own culture and language. Hearing churches have folks go on missions trips but rarely do the Deaf have the opportunity to go as there are not interpreters to help. This fall I will take a team from our church to India to visit a Deaf work and then to Nepal to visit missionaries (our graduates). Through this, folks will “catch a burden” for Deaf around the world and many will surrender to missions work in the future.

In May we graduated five students from the Bible college. One will return to his home in Thailand to begin a Deaf Church. One will be an evangelist here in the United States. Two young ladies will work with deaf children and one is going to begin a ministry for deaf widows in the United States. We are thrilled with five but how we wish it were 25 or 50! We want to reach as many Deaf as we can before the Lord returns.

I pray that through this article God will speak to the hearts of young people who are learning sign language and they will surrender to be involved with a church plant for the Deaf. The harvest is ripe! The field is great! Workers are few! We are praying that the Lord of the Harvest will send forth laborers to work in the field of Deaf Ministry, especially church planting for the Deaf in America. The Deaf Community in America is an unreached people group and as we reach them, lead them to Him, and disciple them through local Deaf Churches, they will in turn surrender to reach deaf people around the world.

Will you surrender to begin a Deaf Church in America? If God leads you to do so, we would love to help you—“That the Deaf may one day hear.”

Dr. Reggie Rempel
BIMI Missionary
Harvest Deaf Ministries
Ringgold, GA
1www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss

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