Heeding all the right signs

People of all hearing levels are welcome at the Birmingham Community Deaf Church’s weekly Bible studies and worship services. Though most speak in sign language, the services include an interpreter for the “sign-impaired” who join them.

The Birmingham Community Deaf Church has been an institution in the Birmingham area for nearly 60 years, said member Cherybe Thornton, and has been in many different churches, including the Church at Brook Hills and its home for the past two years at Briarwood Presbyterian Church. Thornton said what’s unique about the deaf church is they aren’t led by a hearing pastor who is helped by an interpreter. Their pastor, Cromwell Josey, has been deaf since childhood.

“We encourage and support ministry led by the deaf,” Thornton said.

One important part of that, Josey said, is that he preaches only in American Sign Language rather than speaking English and doing a word-for-word sign translation. ASL is distinct from English and has its own accents, slang and shorthand. 

For lifelong signers, hearing the sermon in ASL is a more natural and full experience.

A worship service at the deaf church might be a little quieter than a regular service at Briarwood, but Thornton said the elements are the same. There is worship music, and those who can’t hear the music can still feel its rhythm. The sermon and prayer are delivered in sign language, with the help of an interpreter for the hearing. 

And in conversations, those who are able to will speak and sign at the same time, so no one is left out of the discussion. 

“A deaf worship service is the same as a hearing service except everything is done in sign,” Thornton said.

The Community Deaf Church has about 25 to 30 regular members, with more coming for special events. They include not only the deaf, but also their hearing family members, students learning American Sign Language, deaf education teachers and others.

Each has a different path that led them to joining the church. Josey grew up in Georgiana and went to a school for the deaf as well as Gallaudet University, the only U.S. university specifically for the deaf. He had been involved in ministry for many years before moving to Birmingham in 2010.

Samantha Godbey grew up in a regular church and had a hard time hearing the pastor or regular conversations. Her hearing loss has progressed over the years, though she still is able to use hearing aids, but she heard about the Community Deaf Church before she learned American Sign Language. Godbey is now not only fluent in ASL, but also is heavily involved in the church and the Alabama Baptist Conference of the Deaf along with Josey.

“I felt the Lord tell me that this was the right church,” Godbey said of her first time visiting the Community Deaf Church.

Thornton can hear but grew up with deaf parents and has always been a part of the community and has served as an interpreter.

“A deaf church has always been my home,” Thornton said. “When you grow up in the deaf community, you are family.”

The church is not just a place for faith, Thornton said. The deaf live in a world where most people cannot speak their language, so the Community Deaf Church offers a place to see friends and communicate easily with everyone in the room. In her parents’ time, Thornton said, the deaf tended to live near one another and build pockets of community. While the internet has made communication without hearing even easier, there are no longer these localized deaf communities.

“We’re all just a family. The deaf are scattered,” Josey said.

“Any time they have a chance to get together, they just fellowship,” Thornton said.

The Community Deaf Church also provides ASL classes. Some of its members are regular teachers at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind in Talladega, and the group raises funds for a summer camp for deaf children. Loneliness can be even harder for deaf children since, in some cases, their own families don’t even know sign language, Thornton said.

As part of Briarwood Presbyterian, the Community Deaf Church also participates in frequent service work such as knitting or crocheting scarves and hats for the Lovelady Center. Thornton said the Christian Deaf Fellowship in Hoover works with the Community Deaf Church and other groups to provide scholarships for deaf men and women who want to enter ministry.

All of these efforts build connections for Birmingham’s deaf population and also gives them the opportunity to learn about the Christian message in their own language.

“We have a burden to reach the deaf for Christ,” Thornton said.

The Birmingham Community Deaf Church meets at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in the Mountain View building on Sundays for fellowship at 9:45 a.m. and the deaf service at 11 a.m., as well as Bible study at 2 p.m. on Tuesdays. Briarwood also has an 8 a.m. service on Sundays with an ASL interpreter. Find them on Facebook.