Celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the Deaf Ministries - 14th March 2010

This year 2010 we celebrated 30th anniversary of God’s work among the Deaf Christians in South Africa. It was held at DNLCEast, Primrose, Germiston on 14 March 2010. We started the day with the Deafies taking turns in leading the worship in English, Afrikaans and some tribal languages. Then William shared the Brief History (mentioned below), the message of motivation and Bert Barritt’s message. About 70 Deafies, including 10 children, came. Then the young people cleared the hall to make way for the tables and chairs for lunch. The Deafies chatted as they went down the memory lane, by looking at the photo albums of the Deaf Christian Camps, activities, fellowships, etc. on the table and the laminated photos of the past 4 years of DNLCE on the cupboards. We ate sumptuous pieces of cake, made by Nikki Kleynhans (D), Kathy Aikman (D) and 2 cakes bought by Val Thomson(HoH). What a blessed fellowship together!

Let us look back to 30 years and beyond and praise God for what He has done for us, the Deafies in South Africa.

Brief History:

1973 - In July a group of parents (5 concerned hearing parents, Gus & Coral van den Huevel, Fred & Janet Evans, Steve & Pat Mackie, Olwen Venter - all having a Deaf son(s) in the family - met to plan a way for Deaf English signing of Protestant background to be evangelized. NGK and
Roman Catholic catered for the Deaf, but none of the English signing Protestant churches did.

1974 - 2 Sunday Schools in Blairgowrie and Rosebank Union Church in Rosebank, Johannesburg for the Deaf children were started.

1976 - Youth Group was started in a hall provided by Rosebank Union Church. Eventually young Deaf adults were trained to teach Sunday School.

1979 - We became aware that we needed a more experienced person to help establish a Fellowship.

1979 - Bert and Marie Barritt (Hearing pastors of DCF [Deaf Christian Fellowship] of London, UK) visited South Africa for 3 months.
- 1st Deaf Christian Family Camp was held in Rabboni, north of Johannesburg and 40 adults attended.

1980 - They returned in 1980 for a 3 year period. Deaf Christian Fellowship in Johannesburg and Durban were established.
- Johannesburg DCF came into being with 3 Deaf men, Michael Glanvill, Stephen Venter and William Warmington, trained and appointed as leaders.

1994 - “Broke Camp” on 24th April to make a way for integration into Hearing Churches.

2005 - In August, William & Bev Warmington (D) of Germiston and Hermanus & Chantalle Engelbrecht (D) of Pretoria attended 3rd DMI Conference in Uganda, Africa. God spoke clearly to “stand in the gap …” Ezekiel 22 v 30.

2006 April - Deaf New Life Church East was officially established in Primrose, Germiston.
6 Deaf attended. At the end of 2006 William Warmington retired from work to go into full-time ministry. Up to now about 60 people attend DNLCE.

2006 August - Hermanus Engelbrecht (D) resigned from work to become a full-time pastor for the Deaf in Pretoria.

We thank God for Bert & Marie Barritt (H) (now residing in York) who obeyed God by first going to Ireland 60 years ago and then coming to South Africa 30 years ago to establish DCF for the Deaf people in Johannesburg and Durban. Since then the Gospel spread to the different parts of South Africa and several churches for the Deaf were planted.

We must not forget where we came from, giving God thanks for establishing DCF in 1980 when many Deafies came to know Jesus Christ as their Saviour. “If we forget where we came from, we wouldn’t know where we are going. God is bringing us to new things and new seasons.”

(Quoted by Jim Lamont (H), former elder of Cornerstone Church).

All glory goes to our Lord Jesus Christ!

William & Bev Warmington (D)

Email from Bert Barritt, UK

Our Dear Friends in South Africa,

We send warm greetings in the Name of Jesus Christ. Blessed be His Name. We rejoice with you for the celebration of 30 years since the beginning of the work with deaf people in South Africa. We would have loved to have been with you as you thank God together for His goodness. Yes, praise God for the beginning of the work and give much praise for what has come from that early effort.

It all began with a seed in the hearts of those Christian parents who wanted to see the Gospel established for their deaf children and not only their children but all deaf people. Thank God for the prayers and the vision of the Evans’, the Mackie’s, the Venter’s and the van den Heuvel’s. They made the decision to invite us to South Africa, after some correspondence and a visit to us from Janet Evans when she was in England.

Now we can look back to all that has happened since that beginning. Before we arrived there had been some activity of bringing younger deaf people together and then regular Sunday services were started. There were prayer meetings and Bible studies and later came the conferences and the camps. We have such precious memories of those camps. Then gradually deaf people began to put their trust in Jesus as their Saviour and be baptised. What blessed times we had at the baptisms of people in various homes with a swimming pool.

Let us thank God for all He has done. As we look at the work in South Africa today, we realize that God did more than we ever imagined could happen. You have crossed barriers of race, colour and culture. To God be all the glory.

Some of you may remember the car we had when we were with you - a yellow Renault - which carried us everywhere. When I think of it, I am reminded of a message I preached from Mark 11:1-9. A donkey that no one had ever sat on before carried Jesus where He wanted to go. As we heard that message, it made us feel that we wanted to be like the donkey and serve Jesus. We realized that, like the donkey, we were untamed and needed Jesus to tame us. We wanted to carry Jesus everywhere in our lives. The yellow car had a number plate, DWN. We called it Donkey With News and it carried us and the good news of Jesus while we were in South Africa. May we all continue to carry the love and message of Jesus wherever we go.

Praise God for all those who have been faithful through the years in this work, too many to mention, however we would especially want to honour William and Beverley Warmington and the parents who prayed and had the vision.

We join with you in giving thanks, praise and glory to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

With our fondest memories,

Bert & Marie Barritt (H), UK (e-mail March 2010)
Note: DCF in Ireland will also be celebrating 60 years in June 2010.