Spiritual Mentoring of Deaf People

1
Spiritual Mentoring of Deaf People

• Deaf View 3
• 8-10 March 2013

2
Deaf Community
Deaf
cochlear implant
deaf
hard of hearing
NZSL
hearing impaired
Hearing aid wearers
oral
3
Te Whare Tapa Wha Mason Durie 
Te taha tinana body Te taha wairua- spirit Te
taha whanau family Te taha hinengaro
thoughts/mind
4
Taha wairua (spiritual health)

• The capacity for faith and wider communication.
• The spiritual essence of a person is their life
  force. This determines us as individuals and as a
  collective, who and what we are, where we have
  come from and where we are going.
• A traditional Maori analysis of physical
  manifestations of illness will focus on the
  wairua or spirit, to determine whether damage
  here could be a contributing factor.
• www.health.govt.nz

5
The Spiritual Part of Us
6
Some Background Information

• Many of the first teachers of Deaf were people
  with religious or church connections
• 1700s Abbe Charles de lEpee
• Jansenist priest
  and lawyer
• 1800s Rev John Townsend Anglican
• Rev Henry Cox Mason
• Rev John
  Kirkpatrick
• Rev Thomas
  Gallaudet
• (son Thomas set up first Deaf church
  in USA)

7
1700 -1800s

• Deaf people were trained to be teachers of the
  Deaf
• Three Deaf people became principals in Britain
• Deaf people became leaders in churches in America
• Then oralism took over and Deaf people were
  forced out of leadership.

8

• Sumner 1930s Rev Orange visited every Thursday
  to tell Bible stories
• Bruce Dron
• Kelston School for Deaf
• no formal religious instruction
  until 1983
• when Bible in Schools was
  set up
• Staff and church people took children in both
  schools to church

9

• St Dominics School for Deaf set up in Island Bay
  Wellington in 1944 to give Catholic children
  religious instruction as part of their education.
  
• Other Catholic schools and units set up and run
  by Dominican nuns
• Today, there are no religious schools for Deaf
  and no spiritual mentoring programmes at
• Van Asch or KDEC

10
Challenge

• How will Deaf children learn about God and
  spiritual things?
• Not allowed to learn at school
• Parents and families not skilled in NZSL
• Who will teach them?
• Who will be their mentors?

11
What is a mentor?
teacher
Mentor
coach
friend
leader
12
Spiritual Mentoring

• Starts with a close relationship
  with God
• If you want to be a spiritual mentor, first you
  need to have a close relationship with God

13

• Reading and understanding
• the Bible
• The Bible Word of God Truth
• God communicates to us through the Bible
• A spiritual mentor needs to know the Bible well
  and understand what God wants us to do

14

• Prayer

Prayer is communicating with God
Best way to learn how to pray is in a small group
A spiritual mentor prays for the person and with
the person
15

• Attending Church
• or a Deaf Fellowship Group

Interpreters dont solve all the problems
16
Solutions for Deaf?
17

• Small groups like home groups or cell groups are
  comfortable places for Deaf to learn how to grow
  in their faith and to mentor each other.

18
Suffering

• English not good
• Lonely and left out
• No job
• Sick
• Depressed
• Gossip
• A mentor has to be compassionate and
  understanding.
• Suffering can make us strong in our faith.

19
Stretching
Sometimes God asks us to do things we think we
cant do. He wants us to step out in faith and
obey Him.
What is your reaction to being stretched? How
can you encourage someone to step out in faith
and obey God?
20
Service

• Christians must be active.

21
(No Transcript)
22
What does God want you to do?
23

• If your actions inspire others
• to dream more,
• learn more, do more
• and become more,
• you are a leader (mentor).
• John Quincy Adams