FEFCM’s Deaf Ministry began in 1997 when some deaf individuals began attending the former church on Ocean Avenue in Portland. Church leadership made a commitment then to provide a worship service interpreted in American Sign Language every week for as long as deaf people continued to attend. Nearly 10 years later, First EFC maintains this commitment, believing that accessibility is essential in serving Christ and the community of those who seek Him. Whenever possible, First EFC provides interpreting services for other church activities, including Sunday school, business meetings, seminars, prayer meetings and Bible studies upon request. The church office is equipped with a TTY, which may be accessed by calling the main phone number, 207-591-6484 and tapping the keys a few times to inform the secretary she has a TTY call.
First EFC also has available to anyone who is interested a lending library of videotapes and DVDs of the Bible translated into American Sign Language. They are produced by Deaf Missions in Council Bluffs, Iowa. While the entire Bible is not completely translated into ASL, Deaf Missions is making excellent progress toward this goal. The New Testament is complete, as are several books from the Old Testament. The translators on all the tapes are deaf themselves. Our library also has other tapes, including several bible studies led by deaf teachers and testimonies by deaf Christians.
Polly Lawson, IC/TC, CI, has served FEFCM as a sign language interpreter since 1997. Her interest in American Sign Language (ASL) began in 1979 while employed as a child care worker at Perkins Institute for the Blind in Watertown, Mass. Through her work with deaf-blind youth who communicated primarily in sign language, Polly recognized her own inadequacy to communicate with deaf people and pursued more formal language study. Upon graduation with an Associate’s Degree in Deaf Studies from Merrimack Valley College in Manchester, New Hampshire, she began to work as a free lance interpreter. She obtained her first certification through the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf in 1987 and was recertified in 1991. Polly has enjoyed an active free lance career in interpreting throughout Maine for 15 years. Her focus over the past 10 years has been on raising her three sons, plying her interpreting skills primarily at church.
