NATIONAL DEAF WORKSHOP
Making the Gospel accessible to the deaf

Last updated: January, 2006

Purpose

Current Workshop

There is now a web page that is maintained by the host congregation for the upcoming workshop. You can find specific details there about dates, speakers, lodging, etc. The site is National Deaf Christian Workshop.

History

Each year, at the workshop, congregations bid to host the workshop in some specific future year. If there are multiple bids for one year, the participants vote on which site will host the workshop, otherwise, in the absence of competition, the bidding congregation wins by default. The bidding congregation MUST have the permission of its elders in order to bid and host the workshop.

For the past several years, the workshop has been held during the 3rd or 4th week of June. The workshop usually starts on a Monday night and continues through to Thursday afternoon or night. During the mornings and afternoons there are classes for the deaf and the hearing. Bible classes are usually directed to the Deaf and the classes for the hearing are normally on interpreting and deaf culture. In a couple of the workshops there have been classes designed specifically to educate elders about the needs and uniqueness of deaf ministries. The evenings are devoted to keynote sermons, normally delivered by Deaf preachers. All classes and keynotes are interpreted for the deaf and hearing as appropriate (i.e. if the speaker is deaf, then voicing is provided, and if the speaker is hearing and prefers to not talk and sign, then an appropriate interpreter is provided). Attendance for the past several years has probably averaged around 250-300, with lows of less than 200 and highs of near 500.

The host congregation is responsible for the schedule, lining up speakers, housing, local transportation and feeding. These have all been taken care of in a variety of ways. If the workshop is held at a site like a college campus, then that solves the housing and most of the local transportation problems. Otherwise there will be attendees who need to be housed in Christian homes and who may need transportation to and from the workshop site everyday, plus to and from the airport for arrival and departure. Housing in homes can prove to be quite difficult to coordinate and accomplish, so recently some host congregations have decided to not provide housing in Christian homes.

The host congregation normally provides some sort of light breakfast and a full lunch. The attendees are usually on their own for dinner. Most of this is a bit flexible, but the host congregation needs to be sure the details are clear to all attendees.

Only recently have there been any charges for the workshop. Sometimes that was in the case where a college campus was used and the fee covered room and board. Other times a small fee has been charged by the host congregation to help defray the cost of hosting. There has been some resistance to charging fees, but it seems that they are likely to become a fact of life. Several of the recent workshops have cost the host congregation(s) around $10,000. The speakers often receive no pay for their participation, but occasionally a small stipend has been offered.

There have been workshops held in 17 different states (see table below). There have been 22 held west of the Mississippi River (mostly thanks to Texas) and 22 east of the Mississippi.

Previous National Deaf Workshops

Point of contact:

We would love to include more historical information, so please pass any of that on to David Hinckley. If anyone feels that the information provided is inaccurate, please contact us and we will be glad to make corrections.

 Please visit the Fairfax Church of Christ the next time you are in the Washington D.C. area.