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Ten Days of Prayer

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photo of Susan Bloomfiled outdoorsSister Sue Bloomfield, A Deaf Church Army Evangelist and Outreach Worker in the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham is calling the Deaf Community to  Ten Days of Prayer. She writes

I went to conference with other ministers from the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham
in October. The Bishop of Sheffield said his Diocese has a special ten days of prayer
between Ascension day and Pentecost. This year Ascension day is on Thursday 17th May
and Pentecost is on Sunday 27th May. Jesus told his disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit to
come on them (Acts Chapter 1 verses 4 and 5). In Acts chapter 1 verse 14 we are told that
the disciples including women, devoted themselves to prayer. In Acts Chapter 2 verses 1
to 4, we see that they are gathered together in one place when the Holy Spirit comes upon
them.

Would you like to join me in ten days of prayer? You do not have to travel to Nottingham!
You could gather together with Deaf Christians locally for something special in these ten
days and you could also make each day to pray for different things in the Deaf Community.

Day 1 - Ask God to help you to share the love of God with the people you meet each
week. This might be your family, neighbours and people in the Deaf Community. Pray for
your Deaf Church and for all who lead the worship. Talk to others about how you could
show God’s love to people. Encourage one another.

Day 2 - Some areas do not have a Chaplain. Find out which areas do not have a chaplain
working with Deaf People. Pray for the Deaf Church in these areas. Are you a nearby Deaf
Church. How could you encourage your brothers and sisters who do not have a chaplain?
Let them know you are praying for them. Pray for Chaplains and Deaf Church leaders of
your own church and other churches.

Day 3 - There are many different organisations and services working with Deaf people.
Which local organisations work with Deaf people in your area? Pray for them and for
national organisations. Tell them you are praying for them and ask if there are any
particular needs they would like you to pray for.

Day 4 - Deaf Christians have a lot to offer the Church. Training with hearing people is
difficult but not impossible. Pray for your area to have opportunities for Deaf people to
learn more about their faith and become leaders. Also pray for the tutors and lecturers for
the Chester course which leads a course in BSL for Deaf people to learn more about their
faith and to become leaders in the Deaf Church. Pray for more Deaf leaders and for Deaf
priests to lead Deaf Churches.

Day 5 - Pray for young Deaf people. Pray for their education and pray they will find their
future in college, university and in work. Pray for all who teach them and work with them.
Do you have a University or college in your area? Are there Deaf students there? Can you
befriend them and or the teaching staff and take an interest in their work or studies and
give them support? Pray for positive experiences and for strength when things are difficult.
Pray for those who cannot find work. Pray for families of Deaf children especially those
you know.

Day 6 - Pray for interpreters, notetakers, lip-speakers and all who provide Deaf people
with communication support. Pray for those people you know by name. Pray for those who
train interpreters. Pray for Signs of God as they help interpreters develop their skills in
Christian settings. You could contact Signs of God and ask for particular items for prayer.
Pray for all Churches who provide interpreted services and for the people who go and the
people who interpret.

Day 7 - Pray for the Bible Translation project. They are working hard to produce the Bible
in BSL. This is a learning experience which benefits a lot of people as those involved
share with others. Pray for funding. Are your local Church able to support this project?

Day 8 - Pray for the local Deaf Community. Pray for Deaf people who have become
isolated through distance, lack of transport, disability or ill health. How could you provide
support for them?

Day 9 - Many people came together from different countries. Pray that we too will be
aware of Deaf people in other countries. Does your Church support a project in another
county? Pray for them.

Day 10 - The Holy Spirit came upon the Disciples and they were able to talk in many
different languages. Lots of different people understood them. Pray that British Sign
Language will be used to pass on information about health, local and national government,
community events and other services. Pray for the Holy Spirit in your own life. Let him fill
you with the joy of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Use this list to help you pray as you can. The Holy Spirit may bring other topics or people
to mind for you to pray for. Remember others will be praying too. Be faithful just as the
early disciples were. And be ready to be surprised. I am sure the disciples never expected
life to turn out quite the way it did! Do share what happens for you. It is encouraging to
learn about the stories of others including yours. You can share on my blog at http://
susanbloomfield.typepad.com/ I am also on Twitter at @Suesigns

Using Interpreters in Church

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Deaf people often want to participate in the wider Church or take place in special events but often they or their Church leaders are not sure how they can get hold of an interpreter.

The Christian Interpreter Network which is run by Signs of God is a great resource for finding Christian Interpreters. You can access a list of trained Interpreters  at the signs of God website here http://www.signsofgod.org.uk/cin and you can search for an interpreter near you or the event you want to go to by typing in the name of the town or a postcode.

All the interpreters listed there have had some interpreter training.  There is an additional list with the names of those who have level 3 BSL but have not yet had any  interpreter training.  This can he sent to you on request from Signs of God - see above link 

Signs of God runs training courses which are a real boon for helping those with some signing skills cope with the special demands of interpreting in Church and at Christian events. If you have volunteer interpreters at you church maybe you could supoport them to go on such a training course or maybe a summer school.  (see here http://www.signsofgod.org.uk/pages/training)

Another great resource can be your local Chaplain to the Deaf. These are Church of England ordained and lay ministers appointed to minister to the Deaf community in your area. At the moment their is not a contact list of chaplains publicly available  but if you know the name of your local C of E diocese you can google for its webpage and find details their. If not please contact Deafchurch webmaster via contact us form and we''l do our best to help. 

Searchable directories of qualified interpreters can be found at website of ASLI - the association of Sign Language Interpreters  http://www.asli.org.uk/
or the NRCDP (National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deaf Blind People) website here http://www.nrcpd.org.uk/page.php?content=1

It can be puzzling to understand what the puzzling array of Sign Language and interpreting qualifications mean but deafchurch.co.uk is here to help..

BSL qualifications are issued by Signature (http://www.signature.org.uk)
Level 1 is a basic introduction to BSL.  Something like the equivalent of Holiday Spanish or French you could learn in a short eveing course at a local college. Someone with level will so say hello, goodbye, ask directions, comment on the weather etc but not yet be able to hold a sustained conversation
Level 2 is the next stage.It needs a similar level of language skill  to a GCSE  in French or German (but much below that required in GCSE English). A person with level 2 qualifications will be able to chat about day to day matters, but will usually struggle if the conversation uses technical terms, advanced or regional vocabulary from an unfamiliar area or advanced BSL grammatical structures.  In Church 
Level 3 is roughly equivalent to having an A level in French or German. The student who has achieved this level should be able to hold fluent conversation on a wide range of topics.   They should be able to communicate basic information accurately. However they are still likely to miss some information  and will struggle to to use some advanced grammatical structures of BSL and communicate using all the subtleties and riches of BSL.  
Level 6 (there is no current level 4 or 5) is the equivalent competence to someone having a degree in French or German.  A person having level 6 BSL will be able to sign fluently on a vast range topics and will have further extended vocabulary , they  use the advanced structures of BSL with skill and subtlety to show sarcasm,  humour.
Some people  who took there qualifications before current levels were set have an older qulaifaction called level 4 which is the same level as the current level 6
         
Interpreting Qualifications are normally only started after gaining Level 6 in BSL  - though sometimes those on some University course can start interpreter training at a lower level. All interpreting qualifications are at Level 6 and above. There are no recognized lower level qualifications.

Fully qualified and registered interpreters are called Members of the Register of Sign Language Interpreters (MRSLI). Those who  have level 6 BSL and some interpreting training but who are still training and have not yet demonstrated their Interpreting skill is at the right level will be referred to  Trainee Interpreters (TI) .
Junior Trainee Interpreters (JTI) have Level 3 BSL and are likely to be in the early stages of their interpreting training. This category still around for historic reasons is likely to disappear over the next year or so as the professional organizations are agreed  that level 6 BSL is the minimum required to provide a fair service to Deaf customers.

You may also come across people who refer to themselves as CSW's (Communication Support Workers)  many of these are unqualified though some will have the CSW qualification which provided training in supporting Deaf learners in education though signing notetaking etc and requires Level 3 BSL.

Many Deaf people are to some extent Bilingual and this means if the interpreter is not up to standard sometimes they can "muddle through" using combination of lip-reading, guess work and doing a fair bit of the translating themselves. They will also sometimes "dumb down" their own BSL to make it easier for a volunteer interpreter to understand.

This means that sometimes Deaf people in their local church can manage using a volunteer with level 2 or 3 BSL to interpret for them.  If that person is known to them or interprets regularly they will be easy to understand.  However this can be stressful and demanding like listening to a foreigner with poor English is for foreigners and they will miss some information and certainly some of subtleties and humour. 
This can be made a bit easier where songs and responses and prayers and key sermon points are put up on a screen.

However wherever possible Deaf people should be given access to the best possible interpreting, and volunteers should continue to improve their skills. For legal interpreting and medical interpreting MRSLI is generally regarded as the minimum safe standard and if we really believe  the word of God is the most important information there is and our eternal wellbeing is at stake then surely we can't but provide the best possible? 

 

 

Tabernacle Mission reaches out in London area

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Tabernacle Mission is lead by a group of Deaf leaders  (Laurence Banks, John Delve, Franco Beschizza, Denise& David  Flynn
They organise regular Deaf-led meetings in the London area mainly within the M-25 ring

The next event is Christmas Worship & Fellowship Plus Auction in Aid of Bolivia Deaf with  Deaf speaker John Delve Saturday 26 Nov 2011 3pm - 5pm at Merland Rise Church , Tadworth, Nr. Epsom  Surrey KT20 5JG

For directions, please visit:
http://www.merlandrisechurch.org.uk/contact.html

Nearest Railway Stations are Tadworth and Tattenham Corner (15 minutes walk)
Buses: from Sutton Rail Station number 420,
from Epsom Rail Station number 460.

More meetings will be at

Sunday 8 January 2012, 2.30pm Enfield Baptist Church

Sunday 11 March 2012, 2.30pm Enfield Baptist Church

More information is available at their website

http://www.tabernacle-mission.com

 

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