At first, you might think the headline is a bit odd… “hearing” the gospel by people who are deaf? But, this article isn’t about hearing in the auditory sense. People who are deaf communicate with each other in physical ways, most notably with sign language.
In Lancaster County today, there are many services for the hard of hearing and the deaf, with the First Deaf Mennonite Church being one of the most seen by visitors to the area. Located right along the Old Philadelphia Pike, a main thoroughfare dissecting the Amish and Mennonite farmland, the church specializes in worship and outreach to the deaf community.
Most Lancaster County residents who think of the church would probably remember pastor Raymond Rohrer. Indeed he led the First Deaf Mennonite Church for 20 years, but he was not the first pastor there. He was called to pastor there in 1973, but the underpinnings of the church began 30 years prior to that.
In the early 1940s, local parents of deaf children began to ask their churches for services that would specifically address the spiritual welfare of their children. After a few years of soul-searching and start-and-stop, the first official deaf church service in Lancaster County took place at Rossmere Mennonite Church in downtown Lancaster City, in December of 1946. The sermon was signed by Aaron Weaver, a minister in the church who was fluent in sign language due to having deaf siblings.
Less than five years after that initial foray, Rossmere called Israel Rohrer to pastor the church. He spoke and signed simultaneously his sermons from the pulpit so that everyone in attendance could understand his preaching.
As news of these services spread, and the population of deaf people seeking a church home in Lancaster grew (people were willing to travel some distance to Lancaster for services tailored to their needs) a stand-alone church dedicated specifically to deaf and hard of hearing parishioners was a plain to see necessity.
In 1957, the land for a deaf church was donated by Mabel Clymer, a Lancaster widow who had two deaf children and wanted to ensure the stand-alone church could be built. The church was erected on the land, which in the ensuing years became a quickly developing and growing “tourist” area. When many Lancaster area Mennonites were considering how best to orient the ever-more-numerous out-of-town visitors to the area, an “experimental” information center was decided on. Because the deaf church was right along the main tourist route (Lincoln Highway) that had sprung up, it made sense for the church to host the information center.
Today, the First Deaf Mennonite Church occupies a much larger building on the Old Philadelphia Pike, having moved out of the Lincoln Highway location as their congregation outgrew that facility. Their current building was originally the Witmer Heights Elementary School, a property that was abandoned by the local school district in the late 50s as part of the “consolidation” movement that was sweeping the Nation at the time (The public school consolidation movement is a topic for another time.) The First Deaf congregation was very pleased to purchase the building from Conestoga Valley School District because it came ideally designed for their use with classrooms and an auditorium.
During the 20 years Raymond Rohrer was pastor of the First Deaf Mennonite Church, he created programs that ended up reaching far beyond Lancaster County’s borders. An annual deaf summer camp, a deaf division of Youth For Christ, a deaf division of Crusade For Christ, and even a deaf senior citizen’s Sunday School social group all came to fruition at the church during his tenure.
Deaf youth from all over the United States and Canada came for these summer programs, a legacy that Rohrer hardly could have ever envisioned when he started them.
In case there are deaf visitors to Lancaster County reading this article, you are certainly welcome to attend the First Deaf Mennonite Church’s services. The church is located at 2270 Old Philadelphia Pike Lancaster, PA 17602. The worship service begins on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. Sunday School is at 10:45 a.m. To ask the church a question, email [email protected]
— Clinton Martin