Intro to Deaf Ministry: Methodology Part 3

Steve Dye writes his second post about methodology in Deaf ministry. Entitled Deaf Ministry 201: Why Deaf Worship Has to be Different, Steve gives a personal testimony on how methodology has helped him as a Deaf individual to worship the Lord and talks a bit about a Scriptural principle that should inform our methodology, especially where the Regulative Principle is concerned. An excerpt:

A pastor in Maryland that I recently spoke with said something that pretty much knocked some of my brain cells out and got me collecting them back up to rethink my strategy…in 1 Corinthians 10:23 it states “Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial” now I know that verse was talking along the lines of other things…but what this pastor was trying to indicate was that…visual aids are permitted only if we feel if it is beneficial to our worship experience.

In our preaching…it is beneficial. In our worship music…it is beneficial. In our sunday school classes…it is beneficial. In all that we do…any type of visual is beneficial…WHY? because most percentage of Deaf in today’s churches rely heavily on visuals.

As always, read the whole thing.

Darth Sinus has laid me low, so I won’t be doing any more posting til Monday, when I’ll finish talking about Deaf preaching.

Intro to Deaf Ministry: Methodology Part 2

I said last time I would talk about the methodology of Deaf preaching. Let’s take a look.

I must begin by first settling on the foundation for all preaching: the Bible. The Deaf minister must be committed to the Word of God as God’s revelation to humanity and the only authority for our behavior, beliefs, and practice (see Statement of Faith). Without this foundation, there can be no Deaf preaching. Instead, the minister is left to practice Joel Osteen-type ministry — that of a “life-coach” who never preaches the Gospel but instead teaches self-help with Bible verses thrown in to make it look good.

Further, we must be committed to the Scriptural ideal that no Deaf person will be saved unless someone preaches the Word to them (Romans 10:13-17). The Deaf must “hear” the Word through the minister, and as such the minister must know with certainty the terrible duty he is taking in bringing the message of salvation to the Deaf. Failure to preach the Gospel, he must believe, means dooming Deaf people he loves to eternal punishment.

Flowing out from this commitment is the understanding that because it is the Gospel alone that saves, the salvation of Deaf people is not up to us. It is the Word that saves us by telling us what God has done in Christ and calling us to repentance. It is God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, who takes this Gospel and convicts those who hear to repent. There is nothing the minister can do to bring a person to salvation. His responsibility is simply to faithfully proclaim God’s Word and leave the results up to the Lord.

For many of us who read that statement, you may think this is all we really need to worry about. We don’t need to worry about the method the Word is delivered; we only need proclaim it rightly. In Deaf ministry, this is a dangerous assumption.

First, the minister must evaluate his listeners. What kind of Deaf people are in my audience? Do I have ASL speakers, PSE speakers, Signed English, Oral? Are my people institutional (Deaf schools) or mainstreamed? Do I have high-function or low-function Deaf? Do I have a mixture of these?

Generally, most Deaf ministries I have encountered contain a mixture of these. My own church is a buffet table of these different kinds of Deaf. We are primarily a mainstreamed church, with many of those very much leaning towards “cultural” Deafness. As such, we must begin by understanding that the language we use must be that which communicates to them most clearly. In my church, that means a strong mixture of ASL and PSE, so much so that conceivably one or the other could be used interchangeably.

Further, the Deaf minister must preach from a Bible translation that facilitates clear communication in the language. I’ve said in the past that I can’t use the ESV with my congregation for two reasons. One, the reading level is too high for many of them; two, I cannot preach the ESV clearly. it is difficult to sign words like justification off the top of my head, but when a Bible instead spells out the term by saying made right with God, I can easily sign that without having to mentally translate the text into sign language as I go. For that reason I tend to use translations such as the NCV or the CEV, or a blend of those plus the ESV. If I’ve been working on my Greek, this process gets even easier because I can then directly translate into sign language what I am preaching from. Find a translation (preferably one with a good level of accuracy) you can comfortably sign from and use it in your preaching. Even better, shepherd your church towards using that translation, if they are willing to do so.

My senior pastor does this remarkably well. I have observed that he prepares his messages from the NASB, but preaches in the NCV. As a result, he knows the Scripture for that message well from his preparation, and that only makes using the “easier” translation in preaching result in a better flow of thought. He does not have to pause, translate the Scripture into sign language mentally, and then sign it. He can continue right on with his train of thought and keep the listeners with him. In other words, it allows the Gospel to be the only stumbling block between him and his listeners.

Next, the Deaf minister must realize that Deaf preaching is a visual medium. Sign language is not an auditory language, it is a visual one. That means the majority of Deaf people, if not all of them, are visual learners. Deaf people, generally speaking, must be shown something in order to understand it. The use of visuals to explain the Word is a necessary part of Deaf preaching.

This means the use of illustrations, both verbal and physical. That’s right, I said pictures. Often, you must explain a concept, and then give an example that can be seen. I currently have a new hire at UPS who is Deaf. I cannot just explain the job methods to the new hire and expect the new hire to understand, I must demonstrate the methods if I expect the new hire to be able to apply them. I can do this personally or show a picture or video, and the new hire will grasp the explanation at that point. The same must be done when explaining the Word to a Deaf audience. Freely use pictures in your preaching. Sometimes a picture can explain the concept you are preaching about more clearly than merely explaining in sign language. Jesus did this often, using parables to reach his own audience; as did Paul with his skillful use of athletic language to describe the Christian life (the “run the race” verses). Throughout the Word, pictures are used to describe God’s revelation in a way people could grasp.

I will stop here for the evening; I have written 1000 words. Tomorrow I will go further into Deaf preaching.

T4G Session 2 - Thabiti Anyabwile (Race & Deafness)

Some of you looked at the title and thought, “What? Race and Deafness?” Bear with me through this one and all will be revealed.

Thabiti Anyabwile delivered perhaps the most provocative, thought-provoking, challenging, and convicting message of the conference. Thabiti, pastor of First Baptist Church – Grand Cayman, began his message by joking that his name means “Sure, invite the black guy to talk about race.” I’m sure the irony was lost on no one, and many of the blogs out there that are not as friendly to Christian conservatism and Reformed beliefs have taken it upon themselves to hammer away at this point.

Thabiti was actually mentored by Mark Dever at Capitol Hill Baptist Church for several years before becoming pastor at FBC Grand Cayman and they consider each other to be great friends and brothers. It was made known during the panel session that followed that C. J. Mahaney also developed a deep and abiding friendship with Thabiti during his years at CHBC. For these reasons alone I would like to invite my readers to throw out this silly and quite frankly stupid prejudice, especially in light of the message Thabiti gave us.

Thabiti began with an assertion that at first left many of us slightly confused. We must, he said, throw out our concept of race. Race is not a “black/white” type of issue. Instead, we must have a biblical view of race if we are to address this issue correctly.

Race, he continued, is a biological term. It talks about our inherited genetics from the human family that passed these genetic traits down to us. In contrast, we have many ethnicities – many cultural divisions among humanity. We are familiar with many of these: black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Native American, etc. However, the world’s view of race is to conflate biology with ethnicity. Thus we have many “races” that follow these ethnic lines.

The biblical view of race is that there is one race, descended from Noah, who in turn is descended from Adam. The biology of every human being is derived directly from Adam through Noah. Every “race” is descended from one man, and as such it is wrong, biblically, to think that there are “many races.” This would mean that there is another person out there, not descended from Adam, who created a certain “race.” As such skin color, the world’s criteria for “race,” cannot be the correct criteria in determining “race.” Instead, it is biblically correct to think of one race but many ethnicities as humanity spread throughout the earth in obedience to God’s command to be fruitful and multiply, as well as a result of the Tower of Babel.

Thabiti then gave six reasons why our modern concept of “race” is wrong:

1. It causes abuse of people and Scripture
2. It makes racism possible
3. Cooperation and fellowship becomes impossible, because “race” causes separation.
4. It removes the authority of the Bible, since the world’s concept of “race” denies that we are one in Adam, as the Bible says.
5. It causes us to resist the Holy Spirit – instead of being united, we are divided by “race.”
6. It destroys the Gospel.

This last point is likely the most serious, though it is the result of the five that precede it. The world’s concept of “race” destroys the Gospel because it makes Jesus’ death contentious. It forces us to look at Jesus’ death as not for all people, but only for the Adamic race. Because of this, we will spend the rest of existence arguing about which “race” is truly “in Adam.” Is it the blacks? The whites? The Asians? The Native Americans?

The world’s concept of “race” further destroys the Gospel because it gives us no motivation for missions. We are already experiencing this today – we don’t do missions because other “races” are not like us. We want to do missions in a comfortable setting. We don’t want to go out of our comfort zone. That’s why we send missionaries – “You do it for me. I’m not comfortable doing it myself!”

Thabiti then called us to think and act biblically on the issue of race. We must see each other as “in Adam.” In John 17:20-21 Jesus prayed that we who believe would be one just as he and the Father are one, and by doing so the world would believe in him. Again, in 2 Corinthians 5:14-18 exhorts us to have a spiritual perspective on this issue, not a fleshly view, a worldly view. We are to regard no one according to the flesh, and in terms of race, not by the color of their skin. Christ has died for all – biblically all “in Adam.” If we allow the world’s view of race to dictate our view, rather than being led by a spiritual view, we have capitulated to the flesh.

As such, when we look at a person, we cannot look at their skin. Instead we must think, “He is created in the image of God, just like me. He is descended from Adam, he is ‘in Adam,’ just like me. He is a sinner, just like me. Therefore I can fellowship with him as a brother in Adam.” With believers, we are to take that one step further: “He is a sinner saved by grace, just like me. Therefore I can fellowship with him as a brother in Christ!”

This is why unity in Christ is far more important than “race.” Ethnicity – which is what the world is really talking about when it talks about “race” – is not permanent. Rather, our identity in Christ is permanent. Therefore, our churches must be a reflection of this reality until we get to heaven.

This was a jaw-dropping, deeply applicational message for me. I and many of the Deaf pastors there constantly looked at each other knowingly all throughout this message. We were furiously nodding our heads and “amen”-ing many of the things Thabiti imparted to us.

You see, our Deaf community is fractured along the same worldly “lines” as race. There are great divisions in Deaf culture that have caused much friction. Deaf people divide along lines of deafness (deaf/hard-of-hearing), language (ASL vs. Signed English or PSE), culture (culturally Deaf vs. mainstreamed/Oral), and psychological makeup (high function vs. low function), just to name a few. The ouster of Jane Fernandes from the presidency of Gallaudet University is a glaring example of this.

Yet we Deaf people, of every stripe, are all “in Adam.” We are all created in the image of God. We are all sinners under the wrath of a holy God in need of a Savior. As such, the Deaf community, in order to survive, must throw out its concept of “Deaf.” We cannot afford to accept the world’s concept of “Deaf.” We cannot afford to accept the division we have created through accepting the world’s concept of “race.” We must accept a biblical view of “Deaf” if our community is to thrive in the 21st century and beyond. And ultimately, Deaf believers must strive to bring these fellow sinners into Christ, just like us.

This message was the capstone of a major shift in my thinking on Deaf issues that has slowly been taking place. I had begun to move away from the rigid categories many Deaf had created for the different types of Deaf people, in order to emphasize that we are one Deaf community, not many. With this message, all the pieces came together with a resounding click and thud that can be both heard and felt. It is my prayer this click and thud reverberates through the hearing and Deaf world for ages to come.

We’re Baaaaack!!!

After raised blood pressure and a temptation to sin, we have officially dumped AT&T for Insight Broadband for all our household communications: TV, phone, and internet. That’s right, the ‘Cron is now powered by cable internet. BellSouth was a great company until AT&T took over. It’s very sad. But I shed no tears cause we’re saving $30 a month on services.

Blogging will resume tomorrow with a T4G post and then Friday with a Deaf ministry post. Meanwhile, I will be catching up on my Puritan Challenge reading as well as preparing for a collaborative book review for Said @ Southern I am participating in over the summer. Stay tuned for news on that.

Also, I may be cashing in some WordPress credits and getting a domain for this blog so it can stand on its own as my personal website. I’ve had my own website in the past but scrapped it for lack of attention. Since I work on this blog fairly regularly (weekly at the most), it makes sense to use this as my personal homepage from now on. It’s a lot cheaper than shelling out for the domain and server, so I’ll be investigating this for the next week.

In the interim, please pray for me and my family. The ugly Sinus Monster has reared its head and is threatening to lay me low; my wife has a really bad cold and is afraid she may have given it to our 4 month old daughter. Grace may also have started teething, so screaming banshees are conceivably in our future.

Thanks for your patronage and stay tuned for more and hopefully better content from The Silent Holocron!

Intro to Deaf Ministry: Methodology, Part 1

Steve Dye, my partner in Deaf ministry crime, has put up his first contribution to a blog series we’ve been discussing for some time. Entitled Deaf Ministry 101: Music and Visual Aids, Steve tackles part of the methodology of modern Deaf ministry. Many of you who are hearing might find this intriguing, so I encourage you to read it. Steve provides a glimpse into why such tools as Powerpoint are a help, rather than a hindrance, to worship. Having interacted in the past with some who were utterly unable to understand this (due to what I think is a faulty understanding of the regulative principle as well as a little theological hubris on their part), and as such rejected the use of Powerpoint in Deaf worship; Steve’s post is a breath of encouragement. An excerpt:

Now the question is…after hearing about all the options that Deaf churches can us for music and visual aids…the question that may pop up frequently is “Why do Deaf NEED this?”

The answer is really quite simple…Deaf depends on visual because they can’t HEAR. Now some of us like myself and Stephen can hear a little bit but still the visual impact of a song makes the experience much more inspiring to worship. I cannot explain in words how much more my worship has been heightened through the use of visual aids. But then the next question pops up would be, “Isn’t using technology in churches the same as worshipping technology?” No, not really. We appreciate techonology because it helps the worship alot more for Deaf.

As always, read the whole thing.

In my upcoming post on the subject of methodology, I will tackle Deaf preaching methodology.

Providentially Hindered

We are without internet service for a while.  We recently moved into a new apartment, and our phone has not yet been moved, though it was supposed to have been moved when we moved out.  So we’ve been without internet all week.  Blogging will be nonexistent till things get resolved.

Gone Fishin’

It’s my birthday, so we’ve gone down to ol’ Rocky Top to see the folks. We will be taking Grace to where it all started. Hopefully she’ll come back with an accent.

Once I’ve taken my fill of real sweet tea (not this junk they call sweet tea here in Louisville) and eaten my Granddaddy’s fried chicken and Mom’s home cookin’, I’ll sit down in between and write a couple more reflections on T4G. They’ll be posted on Monday. Meanwhile I’m going to bask in the real South and read a Puritan Paperback.

See you Monday.

T4G Session 1 - Ligon Duncan

Ligon Duncan kicked off the 2008 Together for the Gospel conference in such a way that one was left with no doubt this would be a hard-hitting conference. No punches were pulled by “Lig” in his message, Sound Doctrine – Essential to Faithful Pastoral Ministry. I was at once wowed and deeply encouraged by this message.

In recent days I have struggled in getting the importance of doctrine across to certain friends and fellow ministers. In fact, one went so far as to leave a comment here that Jesus cared about people first, not information. I was so shocked at this statement, especially given the content of the Gospels, that I was left unable to draft a response that was worthy to publish. Ligon Duncan gave the exact response that is needed to such false views of Jesus and doctrine in his message.

The reason Lig gave this presentation is because there seems to be a deep suspicion of theology today. The quote I gave above from one commenter of this blog is a great example. But especially in the emerging and Emergent movements, as well as some moderate and most liberal movements, disdain for doctrine has led to much false teaching. Therefore we need to recover the study and teaching of doctrine in our ministries and in our churches.

Lig used as his foundational text John 17:13-17:

But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

Why this passage? Because, Lig explained, joy comes from the word of God. If we keep God’s word, Christ’s joy is in us and we will grow in sanctification. Indeed, we grow by learning everything that Jesus taught, as commanded by Matthew 28:19-20. Jesus didn’t say in this passage, “teach them some of what I taught you,” nor did he say, “teach them only what you think they need out of what I taught you.” No, Jesus said, “teach them to observe everything I have commanded you!” This means that doctrine, especially sound doctrine, is the most important thing we can study or teach. Indeed, the study of doctrine is not optional, but mandatory.

Without sound doctrine, false doctrine will creep into our teaching and our churches. False doctrine will seriously hurt not only ourselves, but our churches; therefore we cannot teach it (1 Timothy 1:3-7). We must strive to teach only correct doctrine; this means we must study.

Perhaps the greatest point of this message was this: If we teach right doctrine, and the Holy Spirit is in us, love pours out! The only true way to put people first is to put Jesus first, and unless we study him and his Word, we will never have a right understanding of him nor a right understanding of how to relate to people. The book of 1 John gives the clearest example and exhortation of this point.

As such, if your doctrine is bad, your actions will be bad, too (1 Tim. 6:3-5). False doctrine, according to this passage, leads to ungodliness. Egotistical attitudes, airheadedness, love of controversy and useless quarrels, envy, dissension, slander, gossip, grudges, and constant strife are marks of those who have evil minds and do not have the truth. Further, this passage teaches that such people see godliness as a means of profit. We see this all the time in televangelists such as Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, and others — their false godliness and false doctrine is a smokescreen to swindle money from gullible believers who either won’t study doctrine or have been taught not to. Lig used Hitler as an ultimate human example of what bad theology can do.

By contrast, knowledge of God’s word leads to godliness (Titus 1:1). For this reason theology must be celebrated and preached in our churches!

Next, Lig sought to answer the question, “Why is theology important?” After briefly explaining the difference betweeen systematic theology and biblical theology, he used these to show that we can’t avoid doctrine. After all, the Bible is full of doctrine! Jesus did systematic theology after his resurrection on the road to Emmaus with two of the disciples. He frequently corrected his opponents’ theology. Even when exhorting people to follow him, he made theologically loaded statements. Paul and early believers taught it from the Old Testament. If Jesus and the disciples did theology, why do we say it is unimportant? This is why such platitudes as “people are more important than information” ring resoundingly hollow and are false.

Finally, Lig sought to answer the question, “What is theology good for?” In a word, everything! Theology affects how we live, how we think, how we act. It affects how we worship, how we counsel people, how we preach, how we teach. Theology affects every aspect of life! And, when rightly understood and taught, theology brings joy!

What an answer to the unfounded, unbiblical assertion that Jesus put people above information! Doctrine does not make people less important. Rather, as we develop a deeper and more correct understanding of God, we are better able to serve and love people. And as we serve and love our people through sound doctrine, we have the joy of Christ; and they grow to love the Lord and have the joy of Christ in them also.

I have a story that took place directly before and after the conference that illustrates this clearly. Due to time and space, I will share it when I get home from work in the morning. It deserves its own post since the incident is a direct testimony to the power of the Gospel in people’s lives. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Band of Bloggers Reflections

I’d like to share my reflections from Band of Bloggers 2008.

Now, since this gathering is really an informal gathering of bloggers, we don’t truly have a program. This gathering was conceived by my dear brother Timmy Brister as a way for all the bloggers who were attending the original Together for the Gospel conference in 2006 to come together for fellowship and networking. There is no budget, no formal structure, no mission statement beyond that. It is simply an opportunity for us to glorify God by putting faces with names and blogs, encouraging and praying for one another, and feeding each other spiritually during our time together. I am privileged to have participated in both the 2006 and 2008 meetings, and I deeply long for 2010. Since Timmy is moving to Florida in answer of a call to become an associate pastor, I have made myself available to him for as long as I am in Louisville to facilitate anything that needs doing should there be a third BoB in 2010.

This year we were graced to hear from Thabiti Anyabwile, Abraham Piper, Phil Johnson and Tim Challies, each speaking to the theme “The Gospel Trust.” Owen Strachan moderated the discussion. As I noted, BoB is more or less an informal gathering, hence I did not take it upon myself to diligently take notes of those who spoke. I’m sure there are others who did, and when I find them I will link to them. But I did make note of several things our presenters said which struck chords with me. I didn’t really keep track of who said what, so this will be a very general reflection.

One of the biggest helps I received dealt with blog content. As a general rule, we must let our salvation (i.e. the Gospel) shape everything we think about and write about. We must ask ourselves: “Does the Gospel clearly shine forth in what I have written? Does my writing point towards the Christ? Am I representing Christ correctly?” When writing, the Gospel must be our underlying foundation else we run the risk of becoming trivial. Even if the only reason we blog is to put up pictures of our kids for our family to see, our content must be Gospel-centered and Christ-honoring.

We need to have a focus for our blogs. What is the main thing we want to communicate through our blogs? Discover that focus and write about it, apply the Gospel to it, seek to educate, edify, and encourage others about it. For example, this blog began as a way to allow my family to keep up with me while I was in seminary. Some time ago I felt that I wanted the focus of my blog to be Deaf ministry. I wanted to share with my hearing friends just what it is I do, to make them aware of a quiet, hidden ministry taking place in their backyards; and also to provide a place for Deaf ministers to contribute to my own learning and growth as a Deaf minister. Yet I don’t blog about that as much as I ought! Instead this continued to be a forum to share with family and friends what I am learning through my studies, what I am preaching, what I am reading as I solidify my doctrinal foundations. I do strongly believe that Deaf people and Deaf ministers need this kind of communication from one of their own, but I have veered from the specific focus I attempted to set.

Not to downplay or criticize my current focus, Abraham Piper encouraged us to be willing to write about other things that interest you. As you might have gathered from reading this blog, I am deeply interested in books and theology. Therefore I write mainly about these things. The only real failure I have had is in not applying these interests to my primary focus, Deaf ministry. I also write about other things of interest, such as sports. Piper encouraged us to take frequent breaks from our primary focus and write about other things of interest to us. If we become a one-track blog we will probably not be very interesting to anyone but ourselves. Be willing to have variety around your center.

Phil Johnson gave what I thought was the most sound, most practical suggestion of all. Be willing to walk away from your blog when necessary. It may be that you need rest. You may have other duties to address, such as family responsibilities, work responsibilities, etc. Never let your blog dominate your life to the point where it supersedes your pastoral duties, your duties as a believer, and your duties as a husband and father. Simply walk away. It is, after all, merely a blog. It is not your life!

It is this exhortation I found most helpful. I am the kind of person who, when reading, writing or doing sermon prep and research, can completely tune out the world around me. If I am distracted by someone or something I can easily become irritated. What I need most is to step back and realize that the blog (computer, etc.) is not my wife nor my daughter nor my chihuahua. I can’t hug and kiss it nor play with it. Besides, I could easily delete the blog today and it would be gone forever. I can’t delete my wife, daughter, and dog.

And on that note, I will close this reflection. My wife, daughter, and dog are awaiting my presence to watch “The Gameplan.”

Why We Should Read Outside Of The Bible

John Piper writes a fantastic post about reading books other than the Bible. In light of the fact that I just came home from BoB and T4G with 33 books, I felt it prudent to say a word about the reading of all these books I’ve got in my library (the total now over 350 if not closer to 400). Too often I’ve been given the excuse: “Why do I need to read the works of men? I have the Bible! All I need is the Bible!” I find such an excuse to be arrogant and condescending, and quite unloving of one’s brothers and sisters in Christ.

Pastor John makes a rather practical, convicting, and convincing case for reading good books along with your Bible in this post, titled “How God Readies Us to Read In Tune.” He states:

If in your morning devotions you open God’s word to the book of Judges and find that the strings of your inner instrument are not in tune, it is not blasphemy to excuse yourself for a few moments from the King’s library and turn to a paragraph from one of his unflinchingly faithful, broken-hearted, happy servants. Should we find it surprising that the King should appoint some of his closest friends to be especially good at tuning the strings of our soul so that we may play His music when he puts the bow of his Word on our soul?

As always, don’t rely on just this paragraph, Go and read the whole thing. More T4G reflections will be forthcoming.

UPDATE: I’d said previously I came home with 32 books and that the T4G giveaway was 14 books. I forgot to add Albert Mohler’s Culture Shift to that list; it was sitting on top of my printer unnoticed amid the stack of books on my desk! This post and the previous book post have been amended to reflect that. The overall total is now 33 books; T4G count is 15. Them’s still a lotta books!