Deaf churches switching to remote services because of COVID-19
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the majority of churches in our country, including deaf churches, have temporarily stopped providing in-person services and switched to online, remote services.
I asked two deaf church leaders to describe the changes they have made with their ministries and the changes they have observed. The first is Chad Entinger from Deaf Missions and the second is Brandon Gaskin from the Deaf Millennial Project.
CHAD ENTINGER:
I’ve noticed many of you have a negative attitude towards the coronavirus, because we’re unable to get together. Let’s look at it in a positive way and see this as an opportunity. I’ve heard from two different Deaf churches. They shared that their usual Sunday gatherings tend to, on average, have 30 to 50 Deaf people come together on Sundays. With coronavirus leading to a transition to an online setting and whatever you use, like Facebook, now their sermons have over a thousand views. That’s impressive. So, ironically, through the coronavirus they now have the opportunity to reach more people compared to before the coronavirus happened. My church that my family and I are a part of is a hearing church. It already has live Sunday morning worships showing the pastor’s sermons. During the week the pastor’s sermons will be shared online. We have an interpreter in the church building on the stage on Sunday morning. Now with the coronavirus, there already is a hearing pastor and the church added an interpreter to be in the screen online. So that’s one thing I’m grateful for when it comes to coronavirus because it influenced the church to add an interpreter for their online videos. And I assume they will continue that. I’m grateful for that.
BRANDON GASKIN:
Now, I see over 380 Deaf churches right now upgrading to a web-based setting, either with an interpreter or run by the Deaf church themselves. Very cool. My local church here in Dallas, Texas took action as soon as the coronavirus hit. We discussed what to do and made the transition to online-based. Now, most of all of our prayer meetings, Bible studies, and worship services are now online-based. We recognize Deaf churches have seen an increase of people watching the services and participating in the services, where in the past the average number of church members were 30 to 40 or less. Now, with online based services, hundreds of people watch the streams every day. Amazing.
THE DAILY MOTH:
You can see that their changes are very similar to what K-12 and postsecondary programs in the U.S. are doing with regards to using online video conferencing platforms.
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I’ve seen some news pieces of church leaders who are opposed to their governors’ orders to stop providing in-person services. I asked the two to share their thoughts.
CHAD ENTINGER:
I’ve noticed that some churches still host in-person gatherings even though their state governor declared a lockdown. My personal opinion: I feel that for this coronavirus situation, we should respect our governor’s order with respect for people and their health. I feel if your governor declares that churches are closed, wait until they announce that they can open again. Then we can get back together again.
BRANDON GASKIN:
It’s important for church leaders to follow the rules and guidelines established by the CDC and the government. It’s also important that church leaders should know right now, even with the government’s declarations, states can decide for their own when to open again. Part of that may feel nerve wracking with how soon that might happen. This is being discussed among churches, as well. How soon? Should we go ahead and open? It is really based on their leaders’ decision. A lot of churches are now working and in progress with developing their own guidelines for when the church opens again. What will it look like? It won’t look like it was before. Our new normal will look different. They will take some precautions, encourage more hand-washing, and more physical space. I understand it’s hard. Really, my advice to church leaders is to make wise decisions.
THE DAILY MOTH:
Thank you Brandon and Chad for your time and for sharing your insights. If you want to know more about their organizations, the links are in the transcript.
Deaf Millenial Project: https://www.deafmillennial.com/hmconference
Deaf Missions: https://www.deafmissions.com/