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Missions

A Heart Language

"There has been a motor vehicle accident and your church is involved." The police officer's words baffled the pastor of Maranatha Assembly of God Deaf Church until she arrived on the scene. What she saw elicited an exuberant "Praise the Lord!" A semi-truck making a turn had struck the building and literally pulled off the end. Why was Pastor Hedy Miller so excited? Her growing

congregation had been praying for funds to enlarge their church. One board member had been praying that God would "knock out that wall so we can build on." The insurance payment from the wreck provided half the funds needed to add sixteen feet to the sanctuary—one of many miracles Maranatha Deaf Church has experienced since its inception in 1989.

Home missionary Hedy Miller pioneered Maranatha Deaf Church and has pastored in the deaf culture for 39 years. She knows the importance of presenting the gospel in the heart language of the deaf. American Sign Language is a language with its own grammar and syntax—the third most spoken language in the United States.

Deaf leadership in the secular world has risen sharply in the last twenty years. Ministry to the deaf must not fall behind. Pastor Hedy's dream is to train deaf pastors and missionaries to minister in their culture. This is the goal of Carlson Deaf Studies at North Central University in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Pastor Hedy and co-pastor Randy Pringle, a deaf graduate of Carlson Deaf Studies, oversee a full church program with Sunday School for all ages taught by deaf teachers. Deaf worship leaders use many of their own songs that fit the unique melody patterns and concepts of the deaf culture. American Sign Language preaching uses unique concepts that give the deaf an opportunity to fully understand the message in ways that a signed English worship service cannot do.

One Sunday the Lord had given Pastor Hedy a message about being joint heirs with Jesus Christ. As she tried to explain the concept, she could see by the faces of her congregation they were not understanding. She paused in the middle of her sermon and breathed a prayer, "Lord, let me see the picture so I can preach it." At that moment He gave her the insight she needed.

"He showed me the Father saying to the Son, ‘Everything is yours.' And Jesus in sign language put up His one finger saying, ‘Wait.' Then, in the concept God was showing me, each one of the deaf grasped hand to hand on both sides of Jesus. On each side was a long line. Then Jesus said, ‘Now we are ready Father.'" Pastor Hedy says she never understood being joint heirs with Jesus as she did in that moment.

"Being able to put the gospel in the heart language of the deaf, winning souls and seeing spiritual growth, has been and still is my thrill and my dream," says Pastor Hedy.