Some time ago, in Yeong Heo, a Deaf Korean pastor told his Deaf pastor friends in the Philippines that they would benefit greatly if they arranged a Fatherheart Ministries School for the Deaf in their country. They received the challenge well, and the very first ‘A’ school for the Deaf was held the week of Monday 24th of June 2024 in Bacolod, Philippines.
A group of 34 participants were together, nearly 30 of them were Deaf, most of them pastors, school teachers, deacons and others with church responsibilities.
Sometimes when I teach this revelation to the Deaf, I feel like they are ‘sucking’ the message out of me. Their eyes, their focus and their concentration are so intense that I feel like being in a flow, where the words or the signs are just running or floating to them. This week was like that.
The team members came from Norway, Uganda, Korea, Australia and the Philippines. A couple of them were second speakers. It is wonderful to see Deaf preachers grow in sharing Father’s love. What Father has done in their own lives becomes a strong documentation to the Deaf participants about the reality in our preaching. Again, we could observe changed lives. My second speaker, Matthijs Terpstra said: “To share this revelation and to see how that transforms lives, is the most meaningful thing I do.”
Our team member from Uganda shared a strong testimony about his childhood, having been violently abused by his father who was a pastor. The father had even broken his arm. A couple of years ago he attended an ‘A’ school where he wrote a letter to his father, asking forgiveness for having closed his heart to him. Now he could testify about a wonderful reconciliation with his father who publicly had asked forgiveness for his behaviour.
Many of the participants at the ‘A’ school in the Philippines saw that they needed to get back a ‘Heart of a Son’ to their parents. Letters were written under tears. The day after we finished this ‘A’ school, one of the ‘A’ school participants, a Deaf young man, emotionally moved and happy, told how his hearing parents had cried and embraced him when he gave them his letter where he asked forgiveness. The same day the parents went out to buy him a gift.
The wife of one of the pastors, who is a deaf school teacher herself, expressed an overwhelming joy because she now understood that she is a daughter of God her Loving Father. She continued: “Thanks a lot for coming from far to give us this revelation!”
After this first ‘A’ school for the Deaf in the Philippines, the local Deaf pastors concluded: “We need more Fatherheart Ministries Schools for the deaf in our country!”
– Gunnar Dehli
