Chapter Planting with Deaf Ministry at U Tennessee - Ministry Exchange (MX)

This document is part of a larger cluster of articles about InterVarsity
chapter planting at https://www.intervarsity.org/mx/page/chapterplanting Deaf Ministry at U Tennessee

By Lydia Edrington

The Campus

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville is a large state university with
about 17,000 undergrad students. We currently have three undergrad
chapters, focusing on ministry to black students, Asian students, and
cultural majority students (whites). There are approximately 20 Deaf
students enrolled at UT in any given semester. There used to be a strong
community-feel among Deaf students on campus, but the university has seen a
decline of strong bonds among Deaf student in recent years.

The Challenges

My time is limited for Deaf ministry because I am currently the primary
staff for the chapter of cultural majority students and I spend almost all
of my time focusing on them. They are challenged by the vast array of
campus ministries from which to choose. I am also still learning big-
university culture, since I graduated from a small, liberal arts college.

The challenge with reaching Deaf students, at this point, is the lack of
community among them, and finding the time to really invest in that
particular sub-group. This has never been done before. I’m going to have to
be creative while using the knowledge I have from my Sign Language
Interpreting and American Sign Language/Deaf Studies background.

Bringing Deaf students into a current chapter, which is likely how most
groups will begin, will require a special kind of outreach. Interpreters
will need to be provided for large-group gatherings, small-group Bible
study, social events and conferences. If the staff person is not also an
interpreter (which I am), then one has to figure out what the school’s
policy is for providing interpreting services for extra-curricular
activities.

Campus Contacts and Opportunities

We currently have one Deaf student attending large group and a small group.
She started visiting the semester before I came on staff at the invitation
of a (hearing) friend. When I officially came on staff, she was thrilled
and started to come on a regular basis because I could interpret for her. I
was hoping she would go through small-group leader training this semester
and help me co-lead a small group for Deaf students in the fall but, as it
turns out, she will probably not be on campus in the fall due to student
teaching.

I guess I would name myself as the key contact with Deaf students, since I
am a sign language interpreter.

What We’re Doing

Again, I am meeting weekly with one Deaf student for Bible study and was
hoping that would ignite in the fall, but it seems that I will be starting
all over at the end of the summer. I am going to a Deaf Awareness Day on
campus this month to try and meet some Deaf students as well as students
majoring in interpreting.

The Vision

There was a time in my young life that I thought God was calling me to go
overseas to reach Deaf people for Jesus Christ. However, in the last few
years of college, God gave me the opportunity to meet several missionaries
“on the field” who have over and over again told me the same thing: Deaf
people are going to be the ones to reach Deaf people. Missionaries already
have to cross one culture to share the gospel; crossing that second culture
into the world of the Deaf is even more difficult because Deaf people often
feel like Hearing people don’t “get it” as far as their world is concerned.
Missionaries are serious when they say that when a Deaf American comes to
their foreign country, the Deaf nationals respond with “Oh, you’re Deaf
like me” and will listen to what they have to say about Jesus.

My heart broke when I sat at Urbana 03 and came to the startling
realization that only three delegates out of 20,000 students were
Deaf. With the staggering number of college students that filled the arena,
there should have at least been 30 Deaf students, in my opinion. When I
mentioned this to a friend, she looked straight at me and said, “What are
you going to do about it?” My roommate posed this same question just a few
weeks later when I got back to campus and shared the same grief with her.

Then I got together with my staff worker, who also has a degree in Sign
Language Interpreting. These are some of the questions I asked her:

. Was there just not enough advertisement of the ASL interpreters that would be at Urbana? . Are Deaf students not involved with InterVarsity on campus (or other campus ministries)? . Are Deaf students not interested, or are they not being reached out to?

I figured that Deaf students need to be in places like Urbana to hear God’s
call on their lives to “Go into all the world.” And they need to be engaged
in a campus ministry to ever get to places like Urbana.

It was at Urbana that God exploded his vision in me. I long to see Deaf
students engaged in campus ministries to the point where they not only show
up at conferences to hear God’s call, but they also form small-group Bible
studies and are inviting their friends into relationship with a personal
Savior. College campuses are the place where tomorrow’s leaders are being
formed. Deaf students are no exception. This is the time for Deaf students
to come to Jesus; this is the time for those who cannot “hear” to know his
power and his presence in their lives; this is the time for the cultural
barriers to be crossed for the sake of the Kingdom and all sub-cultures on
campus.

God is Working

The one story I have to tell so far is that God brought a Deaf student into
the mix before I even got on campus. I was working all through last summer
and into the fall to raise support. I was hoping to make it on campus for
NSO, but then had to look more towards January. However, God brought me on
campus in November and there was Stephany, a deaf student who was starting
to get involved in the chapter. She had been invited by a friend to attend
Bible study. God was not calling me to do something radical and new because
of my background and training; he was calling me to join him where he is
already at work to woo these precious people. It’s my pleasure.

Help Needed

I feel like a pioneer in this area. But I know that I could look to others
who also began new, perhaps radical, outreach to sub-culture groups on
campus, like blacks, Asians and Latinos. I know it’s going to take some
time and a lot of hard work to really get out there. I guess I just need
some cheerleaders along the way and a few people who “get” me.

Chapter_Planting_Targeted_U_TN_Deaf_Ministry.doc