Creating Deaf Disciples [2:42-7:48]

We encourage each other, and we encourage a lot of believers, the non-believers, to have open dialogue and discussions about how we can encourage each other, learn more and grow more from God's word. And if one of us doesn't know the answer to a question, we definitely don't ever shy away, but see it as a learned opportunity to continue to research together, and really commit to mind, understanding, and heart to what the message is that we are to receive. And that's why I'm here. I'm really happy to be able to have this opportunity to discuss a little bit more with you, Carly. I love that. Thank you for sharing that. I really think that's why this conversation is so important. We know discipleship within the deaf community is not just about access and relationships, but it's also to feel ownership, to feel like we belong and we're part of the church, in that they can also begin to become leaders, and that they would be led through authentic spiritual experiences there. So I guess my question for you now is how in your church are you all making disciples? What does that look like for you? Really, it's funny. It started as church attendance continued and we were listening to God's word and the pastor one day asked for volunteers and said, does anybody want to teach? Does anybody have any experience? And I asked myself, really me, I'm not sure. I want to say yes to the Lord, but at the same time, I'm not really a teacher, but this is a great opportunity for me to learn and grow. So what really hit me was I needed to study first prior to teaching a lesson. And I realized very quickly that as I studied what one stage of for me to learn God's word, and then by the time it was the time or the stage of teaching others, then I was able to see how God's point of view hit each individual, not only myself, but as I taught others in the group, and have great open dialogue and discussions and seeing what the right approach would be and what would be fitting for them. And what really what God wants us to do as we're walking our daily lives, meaning what does that walk of life mean when we follow the Lord and we follow his footsteps, obey him, and specific behaviors that he wants us to emulate. And so that's one of the things I feel that makes me become more confident and more transformational as a disciple and discipling others. And as the pastor's ministry of teaching and mentoring me, along with the process of becoming more confident with God's word and learning and growing, the better disciple of God I can be than teach others to be better disciples for themselves. And that's how we have been practicing and continually practicing our ministry and sharing our testimonies and witnessing all of the things that God has been doing. It's been really hard, and I feel like it's one of the points where it's become now more of so many disciples that are being multiplied from what we're doing. There's a large number of people hearing that don't really have that kind of access, language, and even though there are provided interpreters, and it's really great to attain the information, there's really no fellowship, no interaction with other people, that they're able to hear their testimonies and truly have that language access point. It's not really readily available for language groups just as the deaf that have full access to all sign to be able to see what's being said and what's being understood without any barriers. And that allows us to really, truly grow faster, more than a hearing environment, a congregation that may have their own niche, that they're able to grow their communities and have Christians alongside them, but we have our own niche where we can fully access quotas or people who are sign skilled, who are all welcome to come into the space to really learn and grow. And of course, first and foremost, God's word and learning and growing. And so two of the big differences that we're able to see is with deaf fellowship is that there is no language barrier. There's full access,