Ministry for Hearing Impaired of Wesley Methodist Church tops 10 years
THE Ministry for the Hearing Impaired (MHI) of Wesley Methodist Church celebrated its 10th anniversary on Oct 5, 2002.
The Rev Melvin Huang, Pastor-in-Charge of Wesley Methodist Church, was the guest of honour. In his address to members of the deaf community as well as volunteers serving the community, he spoke on the topic “Difference between Hearing and Listening”.
MHI started humbly 10 years ago after a group of volunteers, who completed their basic sign language course taught by Ms Pauline Satari, decided to put their newly-acquired skills to use. The idea was started by Mr Lim Swee Hong who was then in charge of Prayer and Praise and who wanted worship and praise to include the sign language. Currently MHI is part of the Christian Outreach and Social Concerns Committee of Wesley Methodist Church.
MHI grew by concentrating its ministry with deaf youths who started coming for tuition as well as social activities. As the numbers grew, the church realised that there was a need for a full-time programme coordinator to run the activities during office hours. The full-time worker, together with volunteers, was able to provide a continuous service for the hearing impaired coming to the church throughout the week.
Apart from the activities provided for the hearing impaired, the church also trains its volunteers to be familiar with deaf culture as well as to be proficient in sign language to meet the needs of its clients. The volunteers also help to provide spiritual nurture by running Sunday Fellowship for them.
Last year, Wesley Methodist Church provided a place specially for its hearing impaired friends at the Singapore Shopping Centre to drop in and interact. This year, it moved to the YWCA Level 8. It continues to provide services for those with hearing impairment so that they can experience God’s love and Christian fellowship in a church environment involving integration with the hearing impaired volunteers.
Wesley Methodist Church welcomes members of other Methodist churches who have relatives who are hearing impaired. Those who are keen to help in this ministry can get more information from the church’s full-time Coordinator, Ms Anne Chua, at 9662-1993 or email wmhi@wesleymc.org
Dr Victor Keng, who has been a volunteer with the Ministry for the Hearing Impaired (MHI), Wesley Methodist Church, since 1991, was Chairman of MHI from 1992-1996.