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 hearingimpaired Hearing aid wearers oral

3. Te Whare Tapa Whā: Mason Durie Te taha tinana – body Te taha wairua- spirit Te taha whanau – family Te taha hinengaro – thoughts/mind

4. Tahawairua (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 Māori 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 l’Epee – 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 is communicating with God Prayer 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 don’t 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 can’t 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.

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