GDM ANNIVERSARY - GROW IN THE GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST (2 PETER 3:15-16)

Dear Members in Christ,

GDM anniversary - Grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:15-16)

Every year at around this time, we celebrate the anniversary of the Grace Deaf Ministry (GDM). They have been with us for 16 years now. And how they have come into our midst is truly amazing. Some years ago, they came to us as a congregation of about half a dozen. Of course at that time, we were ill equipped to deal with ministering to the deaf. Thankfully, it is the Lord’s work, and the Lord supplied the need. Just as God was gracious to the early Gentile church to supply servants like Paul and Apollos to minister, God supplied the needs of the early GDM. The Bible records for us how God had directed Paul’s ministry with the Church in Corinth,

“Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:5,6

God gave servants to the ministry of the Corinthian church as the need arose. The Apostle Paul to sow the gospel seed, and Apollos to teach and preach to the church. Similarly, we were glad that many willing hands came forth to minister in the GDM when there was a need. The GDM committee, led by Elder Chan started work on preparing weekly worship services for the GDM members. But how can we minister and lead the hearing impaired in worship? We prayed for wisdom and God provided the solution. Because the hearing impaired relied on their sight, Bible verses, prayers, and whole liturgy of worship had to be prepared and projected on the screen for them to follow the order of worship. Many sisters volunteered and pitched in to do the work of typing out the order of worship templates on word document. But that was just to solve the problem of having them follow the order of worship. Sign language interpretation was the next issue to be resolved.

A. God provided for sign language interpreters

In the beginning, Calvary Jaya was ill equipped for sign language interpretation. Thank God for the provision of a sister (a Christian friend of one of the GDM members) who filled in this gap for a temporary period, but we knew that a longer term solution had to be found. There were some amongst us who knew some sign language, but the sign language proficiency level amongst the hearing in the early days was insufficient to perform parallel interpretation.

So, God provided a way. We needed more hearing members who were conversant with the sign language. With the help of a sister from the GDM group, weekly sign language classes were held for the hearing, immediately after the Lord’s Day worship service. Slowly but surely, over time, we have a few who were able to engage in sign language interactions and interpretation. Initially the sign language interpretation was done by the GDM members, especially those who were literate, and demonstrate some measure of proficiency of the English language. One of the challenge was the interpretation of Bible verses from the King James Bible into the sign language. Thank God, patiently, slowly, word by word, phrase by phrase, this was worked out. Often after the worship services, Q and A sessions have to be held to clarify any doubts for the GDM members.

Thank God that today, we have a pool of sign language interpreters, both from the hearing, as well as GDM members. The challenge is to find spiritually mature GDM members who will persevere in this service.

B. What is the Spiritual need of the GDM members?

We recognize that like all Christians, GDMers have to grow in spiritual maturity. This is the scriptural injunction to all believers. I might add that this is especially so for GDM members, because their lack of hearing ability hinders reading and comprehension, and therefore greater effort has to be put in to teach them the precious truths of Scripture. The Bible exhorts us,

“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:17,18

Therefore, pray for the GDM ministry! We urge all to pray for their spiritual maturity and growth in the knowledge of the Word. There is constant threat of outside influence, sometimes from cults who reach out to the deaf community. Pray for the committee as they prepare weekly lessons on slides for the GDM sermon and Bible study. Pray that God will grant them wisdom and understanding of His Word. That the GDM members will mature and be spiritually discerning. Pray that God will continue to uphold and sustain this ministry. May God be glorified. Amen.

In His Service,

Rev. Lim Seh Beng, Pastor