ReSermon.com is helping churches serve the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing

October, 2016
ReSermon.com is dedicated to helping the church repurpose its content into a variety of media to reach more people with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we are currently exploring how to help the church serve the estimated 500,000 people who depend on American Sign Language as their primary communication method.

Historically, the deaf and the hard of hearing have been routinely marginalized, abused and even imprisoned for their disability. As recently as the 19th century, deaf people were being misdiagnosed and even incarcerated as mentally ill. According a study by Galludet University, deaf girls are twice as likely to be sexually abused than their hearing peers; boys are three times more likely. These children often grow up to become reclusive adults who retreat into their deaf culture and unaware of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The result is that the deaf community is, missiologically speaking, one of the most under-reached, self-separating people groups in the world, and they need the healing power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, no more and no less than anybody else with full health or disability.

ReSermon.com is exploring how to best help churches equip their existing sermon platforms to assist not only the deaf consume sermon content, but the hard of hearing like military veterans, those exposed to extreme occupational noise levels, and the elderly.

Thank you for taking a moment to help us do this by filling out the following questionnaire.

Questionnaire #1 - For pastors and/or church leadership.

The following questionnaire is primarily intended for pastors and church leadership. However, you are welcome to fill this out, regardless of your vocation or leadership status. If you or somebody you know might directly benefit from sermon content translated into American Sign Language, please scroll down to "Questionnaire #2."
    Thank you! Your participation is very appreciated.

    Questionnaire #2 - For those who might benefit from translating sermon content into American Sign Language

    The following questionnaire is primarily intended for deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals who might directly benefit from sermon translation into American Sign Language. However, you are welcome to fill this out, regardless of your ability status.

    While the questionnaire has been prepared by people with a diversity of expertise in deaf and hard-of-hearing issues, we try to maintain a healthy level of self-skepticism and we welcome your feedback on not only the questions we are posing, but the way we are posing those questions. Furthermore, you might perceive that there are important questions and matters that we are missing. To that end, we have included a suggestion box at the end to capture your comments so that we might improve this questionnaire. Thank you in advance for your help!
    Thank you! Your participation is very helpful to us.
Photos used under Creative Commons from spinster cardigan, Kateweb, Afroswede