Teens who are deaf and hard of hearing find adventure, faith, fun with YFC
Youth For Christ’s Deaf Teen Adventure Camp offers fun summer getaway for hearing-impaired students.
‘We want to help deaf teens uncover God’s story of hope in their lives’
Ryan Anderson, Senior National Ministry Specialist
DENVER — The CDC estimates that 15% of school-aged children have some degree of hearing loss. This means a significant population of young people use American Sign Language and other accommodations to communicate with the world at large.
Youth For Christ (YFC, www.yfc.net), a pioneer in missional youth outreach for over 81 years, mentors young people through Christ-centered relationships. The ministry’s Deaf Teen Quest (DTQ) program furthers this legacy of inclusion by reaching and supporting deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students with care, connection, and hope.
According to Ryan Anderson, Senior National Ministry Specialist, “It’s estimated that only 2% of deaf and hard-of-hearing young people know Jesus. One big reason for this is that it takes intentionality and time to unpack the Gospel, and deaf teens are busy just trying to learn basic subjects and survive in school. So we started Deaf Teen Quest to minister to this group.”
DTQ provides a crucial bridge between YFC’s ministry programs and DHH young people. In addition, YFC partners with Deaf Teen Adventure Camp to offer a summer getaway experience entirely tailored to DHH students. For many such young people, the camp provides a week where communication barriers don’t exist, providing a safe space that celebrates exactly how God made them. This year’s camp included 60 students and 40 leaders from eight different YFC DTQ chapters.
“The camp is held at Eagle Rock resort in Tennessee, a Christian resort that caters to deaf and hard-of-hearing youth,” detailed Miriah Perez, incoming DTQ director. “DTQ works with students with a range of hearing losses, and it was wonderful to see the camp team minister to each individual student. It was beautiful to see no barriers for these teens. There wasn’t an interpreter. It was just them, and they could learn about Jesus in their own language. When we first went into camp, the students were timid and shy. As the week went on, they blossomed and soaked it up like a sponge.”
Perez continued, “There was one particular student who I knew was carrying some heavy burdens. When we had some one-on-one time to talk about the camp lessons, she was able to share some of those struggles, and you could see the weight lifted off her shoulders because she was able to connect with Jesus. By the end of camp, she was able to share her testimony.”
Anderson says that attending camp gave him an important insight into the daily experience of DHH students.
Anderson remarked, “This was the first time in my life when I didn’t speak the same language as anyone else around me. When I stepped into that camp, I was able to understand how these young people usually feel. It gave me the opportunity to put myself in their shoes and understand the importance of our team communicating in American Sign Language so that students don’t experience that feeling of isolation.”
Anderson summarized, “YFC’s goal is to see that every young person in every people group in every nation has the opportunity to make an informed decision to be a follower of Jesus Christ and become a part of the local church — and that includes the Deaf community.”
Youth For Christ has been a leader in missional youth outreach for 81 years and is dedicated to uncovering God’s story of hope in the next generation that desperately needs it. YFC reaches young people everywhere, working together with the local church and other like-minded partners to raise up lifelong followers of Jesus who then lead by their godliness in lifestyle, devotion to the Word of God and prayer, passion for sharing the love of Christ, and commitment to social involvement.
YFC chapters impact thousands of communities across the nation, seeking out and serving youth from all walks of life. Young people are silently struggling through a wide variety of challenging issues — and through the YFC ministry God empowers them and they see the living power of a loving God. YFC trains its leaders in a proven, relational ministry model called 3Story®, which encourages staff and volunteers to be good news while also sharing the stories of the Good News of Jesus. It involves building relationships through the ups and downs of everyday life to lead people to Christ.
YFC has been a pillar of missional ministry since 1944, when Dr. Billy Graham served as YFC’s first full-time staff member. Since then, Youth For Christ has continued to be both a rural and urban ministry on mission, and it is always about the message of Jesus. Youth For Christ USA has over 113 chapters that impact communities across America and is one of over 100 nations within Youth For Christ International.
Learn more about Youth For Christ at its website, www.yfc.net, Facebook