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Leading the deaf to Jesus - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register
Leon Devriendt is happy he is deaf because he has the opportunity to help others.
“Yes, I am very happy to be a deaf person. God gave me such a gift,”
Devriendt said through an interpreter with a video relay service.
“And now, God has opened doors for me with a new job, and I found what I like to do for work,” he said, referring to his work as a rehabilitation case coordinator at the state Department of Human Services. “ ... I feel like that’s God’s reason. He gave me an opportunity, plus, to volunteer.”
As volunteer director of Hope Church’s new deaf ministry, Hands of Hope, Devriendt said he wants the deaf to understand God’s word and to know Jesus Christ.
“God called me to be the director of the deaf ministry to help them,” said Devriendt, who was born deaf in Connecticut to hearing parents who were from Belgium. He grew up in Moline.
“I’d like deaf people to know about Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit. It’s very important. The outreach about Jesus is very important for their lives. It’s critical.”
Because of Devriendt, Hands of Hope got off the ground in the past few months, said Beth Funk, connections pastor at Hope Church.
“Most of the stuff that we do is kind of geared towards two things: one is just reaching unreached deaf and for them ... to have community, which they often don’t have, and (Christ) if they don’t know Christ,” Funk said.
“And then for our hearing people to gain a more understanding of what it’s like to live in the deaf world and to be a part of a marginalized group.”
Reaching the deaf for Christ
Only 2.1 percent of the U.S. deaf population are believers in Jesus Christ, Devriendt said.
Largely an unchurched population, the deaf have resources in various local churches that offer interpreting, but the deaf community is difficult for hearing people to break into, Funk said.
“They are very cohesive. Because they’re separated by language, they’re very involved with each other, but it’s sometimes really difficult to break in, if you’re a hearing person,” Funk said. “Some deaf, they don’t encourage other deaf to get involved with hearing people … . I think that for them it’s probably a lot like for us when we’re dealing with somebody who doesn’t speak the language. We look kind of silly and unintelligent when we try to sign with them. We’re difficult for them to deal with, and so, I just think that’s probably a part of it, too.”
Reaching the deaf population for Christ is difficult for many reasons. One is the deaf have a hard time understanding the Bible, Devriendt said.
“They read the Bible. They struggle with the language. They don’t comprehend it,” said Devriendt, a graduate of the Illinois School for the Deaf and a 1982 graduate of Black Hawk College with an associate of art degree. Beyond graduation from Black Hawk, he attended Illinois State University and Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y.
“The second thing, they go to church without deaf ministry. They don’t understand. It blows right by them. There’s no interpreter, nothing. ...
“Then some of the churches have interpreters, but they do no deaf ministry. They have an interpreter, but they can’t get involved in Bible study in depth.”
Devriendt leads a Bible study from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursdays at Hope Church. By October, the Bible study will have a voice interpreter so hearing people can join.
Hope for the deaf
Currently, about a dozen deaf people attend Hope Church, which offers a worship service at 10:45 a.m. Sundays that is interpreted. The church also hosts potlucks, a sign choir, deaf socials and volunteer opportunities at a Deaf Christian Retreat that will take place Sept. 23-25.
Devriendt, who became a Christian in 2004, attended Heritage Church in Rock Island before he moved from Moline to Springfield more than a year ago. He has been at Hope Church one year.
“Hope Church is a wonderful, warm, welcoming, friendly place. I’ve been so impressed,” Devriendt said.
When Devriendt came to Hope Church, he was impressed with how everyone made an effort to connect with him, Funk said.
“One of the things that’s so cool about it is that people will go to great lengths sometimes to talk to Leon. They ask a lot of questions. It’s really just as easy as having a notepad with you and writing notes back and forth.
“That’s been an added benefit, for sure, of our deaf ministry is the hearing people in our congregation to see how you can overcome some of those barriers with just a pad of paper and a pen.”
Devriendt said hearing people can take sign language classes so they can talk with the deaf. Another way to communicate is through email, he said.
“Invite them (to) come to church. For example, (a) hearing person can bring, like, a deaf co-worker to visit church,” Devriendt said.
“Another way is hearing people can be interested in deaf events to help maybe volunteer, to help in the deaf field like at church. I’m sure that the hearing people will get more involved later. I’m sure. I feel it.”
Hope’s environment is welcoming to the deaf community in that there are many visual aspects to its services, with the sermon, songs and announcements having visual elements and notes for the sermons on screens. The music is often loud (the deaf can feel the vibrations). Video is incorporated into services.
“A lot of churches don’t have that, and it’s very boring for deaf people,” Devriendt said about Hope Church’s visual aspects.
Deaf/hearing fellowship
Devriendt’s influence in encouraging the deaf to try Hope Church is evident, Funk has found.
“I was out eating one night … and I saw some people signing. I went over and I introduced myself in my limited signing ability and gave them a Hope card and a gal started talking to me, and she’s like, ‘Oh, yeah. Leon. We know Leon,’” Funk said.
“Chances are if we try to connect with somebody deaf in the community, they’ve already been hit up.”
Hope Church is thrilled that the deaf are at the church, Funk said.
“We have some hearing folks that are just as involved in the ministry as the deaf community is. They’re just not off doing their own thing, but a part of our family,” Funk said
“I want us to always be that fired up to reach out to people that we don’t know or who might be marginalized or different than us.”
Devriendt wants to reach the deaf for Jesus Christ.
“The Lord showed me that he will find ‘lost deaf people.’ I was like, ‘Whew. I wonder what he means by that?’” Devriendt said.
Tamara Browning can be reached at 788-1534.
To get involved:
Deaf Christian Retreat, Sept. 23-25, Hope Church, 3000 Lenhart Road. Saturday sessions include ASL Bible Translation, Deaf Missions Resources and I See Music. Registration: $20 (includes T-shirt). Ribbon-cutting noting the establishment of Hands of Hope will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday. For more information, email Leon Devriendt at deafhopechurch@gmail.com.
Interpreted services are at 10:45 a.m. Sundays at Hope Church.
A deaf Bible Study meets at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays at Hope.
The vlog is Hope Church | Deaf Ministry.
Leon Devriendt, volunteer director of Hope Church’s new deaf ministry, Hands of Hope, said people shouldn’t stereotype the deaf.
“The deaf culture, deaf people have different levels of language. It’s very broad, different grades of language,” Devriendt said. “Deaf people … have different intelligence levels, different language levels, different comprehensive levels because of the hearing loss. I’d advise not to use stereotypes.”
Devriendt quoted I. King Jordan, former president of Gallaudet University, whose student body is largely students who are deaf or hard of hearing: “Deaf people can do anything except hear.”
Did you know?
Heartland Metropolitan Community Church, 402 Dawson St., offers services interpreted for the deaf at 10:30 a.m. Sundays.
Go to the comments section of this article to add times and locations of other central Illinois churches that offer services interpreted for the deaf.
Leon Devriendt is happy he is deaf because he has the opportunity to help others.
“Yes, I am very happy to be a deaf person. God gave me such a gift,”
Devriendt said through an interpreter with a video relay service.
“And now, God has opened doors for me with a new job, and I found what I like to do for work,” he said, referring to his work as a rehabilitation case coordinator at the state Department of Human Services. “ ... I feel like that’s God’s reason. He gave me an opportunity, plus, to volunteer.”
As volunteer director of Hope Church’s new deaf ministry, Hands of Hope, Devriendt said he wants the deaf to understand God’s word and to know Jesus Christ.
“God called me to be the director of the deaf ministry to help them,” said Devriendt, who was born deaf in Connecticut to hearing parents who were from Belgium. He grew up in Moline.
“I’d like deaf people to know about Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit. It’s very important. The outreach about Jesus is very important for their lives. It’s critical.”
Because of Devriendt, Hands of Hope got off the ground in the past few months, said Beth Funk, connections pastor at Hope Church.
“Most of the stuff that we do is kind of geared towards two things: one is just reaching unreached deaf and for them ... to have community, which they often don’t have, and (Christ) if they don’t know Christ,” Funk said.
“And then for our hearing people to gain a more understanding of what it’s like to live in the deaf world and to be a part of a marginalized group.”
Reaching the deaf for Christ
Only 2.1 percent of the U.S. deaf population are believers in Jesus Christ, Devriendt said.
Largely an unchurched population, the deaf have resources in various local churches that offer interpreting, but the deaf community is difficult for hearing people to break into, Funk said.
“They are very cohesive. Because they’re separated by language, they’re very involved with each other, but it’s sometimes really difficult to break in, if you’re a hearing person,” Funk said. “Some deaf, they don’t encourage other deaf to get involved with hearing people … . I think that for them it’s probably a lot like for us when we’re dealing with somebody who doesn’t speak the language. We look kind of silly and unintelligent when we try to sign with them. We’re difficult for them to deal with, and so, I just think that’s probably a part of it, too.”
Reaching the deaf population for Christ is difficult for many reasons. One is the deaf have a hard time understanding the Bible, Devriendt said.
“They read the Bible. They struggle with the language. They don’t comprehend it,” said Devriendt, a graduate of the Illinois School for the Deaf and a 1982 graduate of Black Hawk College with an associate of art degree. Beyond graduation from Black Hawk, he attended Illinois State University and Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y.
“The second thing, they go to church without deaf ministry. They don’t understand. It blows right by them. There’s no interpreter, nothing. ...
“Then some of the churches have interpreters, but they do no deaf ministry. They have an interpreter, but they can’t get involved in Bible study in depth.”
Devriendt leads a Bible study from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursdays at Hope Church. By October, the Bible study will have a voice interpreter so hearing people can join.
Hope for the deaf
Currently, about a dozen deaf people attend Hope Church, which offers a worship service at 10:45 a.m. Sundays that is interpreted. The church also hosts potlucks, a sign choir, deaf socials and volunteer opportunities at a Deaf Christian Retreat that will take place Sept. 23-25.
Devriendt, who became a Christian in 2004, attended Heritage Church in Rock Island before he moved from Moline to Springfield more than a year ago. He has been at Hope Church one year.
“Hope Church is a wonderful, warm, welcoming, friendly place. I’ve been so impressed,” Devriendt said.
When Devriendt came to Hope Church, he was impressed with how everyone made an effort to connect with him, Funk said.
“One of the things that’s so cool about it is that people will go to great lengths sometimes to talk to Leon. They ask a lot of questions. It’s really just as easy as having a notepad with you and writing notes back and forth.
“That’s been an added benefit, for sure, of our deaf ministry is the hearing people in our congregation to see how you can overcome some of those barriers with just a pad of paper and a pen.”
Devriendt said hearing people can take sign language classes so they can talk with the deaf. Another way to communicate is through email, he said.
“Invite them (to) come to church. For example, (a) hearing person can bring, like, a deaf co-worker to visit church,” Devriendt said.
“Another way is hearing people can be interested in deaf events to help maybe volunteer, to help in the deaf field like at church. I’m sure that the hearing people will get more involved later. I’m sure. I feel it.”
Hope’s environment is welcoming to the deaf community in that there are many visual aspects to its services, with the sermon, songs and announcements having visual elements and notes for the sermons on screens. The music is often loud (the deaf can feel the vibrations). Video is incorporated into services.
“A lot of churches don’t have that, and it’s very boring for deaf people,” Devriendt said about Hope Church’s visual aspects.
Deaf/hearing fellowship
Devriendt’s influence in encouraging the deaf to try Hope Church is evident, Funk has found.
“I was out eating one night … and I saw some people signing. I went over and I introduced myself in my limited signing ability and gave them a Hope card and a gal started talking to me, and she’s like, ‘Oh, yeah. Leon. We know Leon,’” Funk said.
“Chances are if we try to connect with somebody deaf in the community, they’ve already been hit up.”
Hope Church is thrilled that the deaf are at the church, Funk said.
“We have some hearing folks that are just as involved in the ministry as the deaf community is. They’re just not off doing their own thing, but a part of our family,” Funk said
“I want us to always be that fired up to reach out to people that we don’t know or who might be marginalized or different than us.”
Devriendt wants to reach the deaf for Jesus Christ.
“The Lord showed me that he will find ‘lost deaf people.’ I was like, ‘Whew. I wonder what he means by that?’” Devriendt said.
Tamara Browning can be reached at 788-1534.
To get involved:
Deaf Christian Retreat, Sept. 23-25, Hope Church, 3000 Lenhart Road. Saturday sessions include ASL Bible Translation, Deaf Missions Resources and I See Music. Registration: $20 (includes T-shirt). Ribbon-cutting noting the establishment of Hands of Hope will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday. For more information, email Leon Devriendt at deafhopechurch@gmail.com.
Interpreted services are at 10:45 a.m. Sundays at Hope Church.
A deaf Bible Study meets at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays at Hope.
The vlog is Hope Church | Deaf Ministry.
Leon Devriendt, volunteer director of Hope Church’s new deaf ministry, Hands of Hope, said people shouldn’t stereotype the deaf.
“The deaf culture, deaf people have different levels of language. It’s very broad, different grades of language,” Devriendt said. “Deaf people … have different intelligence levels, different language levels, different comprehensive levels because of the hearing loss. I’d advise not to use stereotypes.”
Devriendt quoted I. King Jordan, former president of Gallaudet University, whose student body is largely students who are deaf or hard of hearing: “Deaf people can do anything except hear.”
Did you know?
Heartland Metropolitan Community Church, 402 Dawson St., offers services interpreted for the deaf at 10:30 a.m. Sundays.
Go to the comments section of this article to add times and locations of other central Illinois churches that offer services interpreted for the deaf.