The Gospel Preached By The Deaf

This book contains the proceedings of a conference on Deaf Liberation Theology that took place at the Catholic University of Leuven. Four Deaf persons, rooted in the Deaf community and professionally involved in Deaf pastoral ministry, Thomas Coughlin (USA), Cyril Axelrod (South Africa), Peter McDonough (UK), and Beth Lockard (USA), relate their views on and experiences with shepherding Deaf communities as social-cultural minority groups within the hearing Church, and their efforts to enculturate the Christian message, which often looks so typically hearing in Deaf eyes, in Deaf cultures. Marcel Broesterhuizen, hearing, puts their reports against the background of the paradigm shifts that have taken place in the field of deafness and Catholic views on the relationship between Church and culture. Jacques Haers, hearing, discusses the presentations in the light of liberation theologies. The book contains a verbatim transcript of the forum discussion led by Helga Stevens, Deaf, who is actually a member of the Flemish Parliament.

Will God still use you if you wander away from Him and later repent? Many Christians think that God could never use them in His service because they were backslidden for a long time. It's difficult for them to get involved in a church ministry because they feel guilty and ashamed for straying away from the Lord. Even after they have repented and God has led them back to the church to grow strong in the Lord daily, they continue to struggle in the area of service. I know; I was one of them. However, one night at a missions conference, a missionary family sang a song, "Here am I, Lord, Send Me," and I asked God if He would send me and use me. God opened the door for me to go to the DeafNation World Expo with the Silent Word Ministries International team. During the week, God stirred my soul by showing me that Deaf people around the world need the Lord Jesus. For twenty-seven years, I was a careless Christian and lived with the attitude that "God will forgive me all the time." God finally broke my hard heart and let me see what He really wanted me to do. Through the burden God gave me to reach the Deaf around the world, Romans Road for the Deaf was born. It was a faith ministry, and we had to step out in faith and trust Him to start. The beginning was rough. However, God is always good, and He has saved many Deaf and Hearing souls at DeafNation expos. In this book, you will be inspired to read how God has worked in us and through us in His powerful ways to reach many thousands in just eight hours a day at every city where we have been. I pray that these stories will be a blessing to you and will help you to witness for Jesus with gladness and boldness wherever God may use you.

Following years of theology of deafness based on the premise that Deaf people are simply people who cannot hear, this book breaks new ground. Presenting a new approach to Deaf people, theology and the Church, this book enables Deaf people who see themselves as members of a minority group to formulate their own theology rooted in their own history and culture. Deconstructing the theology and practice of the Church, Hannah Lewis shows how the Church unconsciously oppresses Deaf people through its view of them as people who cannot hear. Lewis reclaims Deaf perspectives on Church history, examines how an essentially visual Deaf culture can relate to the written text of the Bible and asks 'Can Jesus sign?' This book pulls together all these strands to consider how worship can be truly liberating, truly a place for Deaf people to celebrate who they are before God.

Over the past decade, a significant body of work on the topic of deaf identities has emerged. In this volume, Leigh and O'Brien bring together scholars from a wide range of disciplines -- anthropology, counseling, education, literary criticism, practical religion, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and deaf studies -- to examine deaf identity paradigms. In this book, contributing authors describe their perspectives on what deaf identities represent, how these identities develop, and the ways in which societal influences shape these identities. Intersectionality, examination of medical, educational, and family systems, linguistic deprivation, the role of oppressive influences, the deaf body, and positive deaf identity development, are among the topics examined in the quest to better understand deaf identities. In reflection, contributors have intertwined both scholarly and personal perspectives to animate these academic debates. The result is a book that reinforces the multiple ways in which deaf identities manifest, empowering those whose identity formation is influenced by being deaf or hard of hearing.

In recent decades churches have accommodated people with disabilities in various ways. Through access ramps and elevators and sign language, disabled persons are invited in to worship. But are they actually enfolded into the church's mission? Have the able-bodied come to recognize and appreciate the potential contributions of people with disabilities in the ministry and witness of the church? Benjamin Conner wants to stimulate a new conversation between disability studies and Christian theology and missiology. How can we shape a new vision of the entire body of Christ sharing in the witness of the church? How would it look if we "disabled" Christian theology, discipleship, and theological education? Conner argues that it would in fact enable congregational witness. He has seen it happen and he shows us how. Imagine a church that fully incorporates persons with disabilities into its mission and witness. In this vision, people with disabilities contribute to the church’s pluriform witness, and the congregation embodies a robust hermeneutic of the gospel. Picture the entire body of Christ functioning beyond distinctions of dis/ability, promoting mutual flourishing and growing into fullness. Here is an enlargement of the church’s witness as a sign, agent, and foretaste of the kingdom of God. Here is a fresh and inspiring look at the mission of the church when it enfolds people with disabilities as full members. Missiological Engagements charts interdisciplinary and innovative trajectories in the history, theology, and practice of Christian mission, featuring contributions by leading thinkers from both the Euro-American West and the majority world whose missiological scholarship bridges church, academy, and society.

This book brings stories from George Müller's preaching tours on which he spread the word of God's around the world. In nine long missionary tours Müller has preached and led in the providence of God citizens of Switzerland, Germany, Holland, France, Spain, Italy, Canada, the United States, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Turkey, Greece, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Russia, and Poland._x000D_ "Before the perusal of this book is entered upon, it seems desirable that I should myself state to the reader, what led me to undertake these missionary tours. It may be well to refer also to the objects I had particularly in view in connection with them; to mention how far the desired result has been attained; and to notice a few other points relating to these journeys."

In this engaging treatment of the Gospel of Mark, Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm combines biblical scholarship with a close reading of the Gospel text to meet the needs of preachers today. Swift and purposeful, the Gospel of Mark proclaims God's reign and urges the participation of all God's people in the witness of the good news that God has transformed human reality through Jesus Christ. This insightful commentary helps that message come alive while providing pertinent suggestions about how preachers can proclaim this message to today's churchgoers.