A new church launch was held in the chapel at St. Vincent School for the Deaf on 27 June 2010. The dream to use the school as a base for the deaf ministry had been on the heart of William Warmington (D) for a long time. He desired to give back something to the school where he had received an excellent education. An opportunity cropped up when a deaf couple living close to the school approached us entreating to start the church for the Deaf at St. Vincent School. Coincidently, while a new principal, Ingrid Parkin (HoH) was thinking what to do with the unused chapel, William e-mailed her requesting an interview with her. Ensuing a fruitful discussion with her it was agreed to plant the deaf ministry at the school. According to her, the chapel had been very little used for the services and in her humorous words God desired more “noise” from the house of the Lord! No wonder she was delighted that Deaf Christian Ministries is brought to the school. She wrote in her quarterly Newsletter that it is important for the deaf community and St. Vincent to maintain strong ties and develop a mutually supporting relationship. There are many deaf living in the vicinity of the school making it an ideal venue. Plan is to start the deaf once a month and hopefully later increase the service on a weekly basis.

The first service was well attended by 30 Deaf and 5 children. Among the congregants supporting the launch were a deaf full-time pastor and his wife, Hermanus & Chantalle Engelbrecht of Pretoria. The theme of the first message was “The true and glorious Church” which was delivered in SASL by William. The message reminded the congregants that God is more interested in the redeemed people as His Church. Contrary to the popular and erroneous belief of many, the church is not a building made of bricks and cement. The Holy Spirit lives in the “temple” - the body of a believer. 1 Corinthians. 6 v 9.

After the service we had tea and cake. We had an enjoyable and relaxing chat.

The second service was held on 1 August. It was surprisingly well attended by 40 Deafies including 12 children. Kim Kühn (D) and Inge Gieros (D) started Sunday School in the hall.

Please pray that God will use this base to make a positive impact on the lives of the deaf communities.

We were asked by Kim Kühn (Deaf teacher) to come to St. Vincent School on 22 July to hand out the Comic Book Bibles to her Bible class. These 26 deaf learners were so thrilled to receive the Bibles donated by DNLCEast. PTL!

Bev Warmington (D)