Following Instructions
The instruction of Deuteronomy 6:4-7 is very clear:
Most Christian families take their children to church and Sunday School, then supplement those lessons with a library of materials at home. For the majority of children, age appropriate Biblical resources abound. There are Bibles with kid-friendly text and engaging artwork, radio and TV programs like Adventures in Odyssey and Veggie Tales, and now there are apps that lead children through each story and present activities to reinforce the lessons and keep them engaged with the scriptures.
All this instruction is easily provided with a shared language, which the majority of children learn from their families automatically. This doesn’t happen automatically for deaf children in hearing households. For most deaf children, it doesn’t happen at all – not at the deep heart level of “Who is God?”, “Does He really love *me*?”, and “What do I do about Him?”
That’s why Silent Blessings produces resources like Dr. Wonder’s Workshop. We want to bring Jesus’ love to deaf children and their families.
Silent Blessings, Deaf Missions, and Deaf Video Communications joined forces and worked for eight years to develop two Finger Food Café movies. That pace won’t do, so they took what they learned and built Dr. Wonder’s Workshop in thirteen half-hour episodes per season. It’s an inventor’s lab filled with deaf staff (portrayed by deaf actors) skilled in chemistry, electrical engineering, accounting, and more. Each episode includes a Bible story, an object lesson, a song, and a situation in the workshop that illustrates an aspect of Jesus’ character and/or expectations for His followers.
Four seasons of Dr. Wonder’s Workshop are currently being broadcast worldwide on Christian networks, and we’re finishing post-production work on the fifth and final season. That’s twenty-six to over thirty-three hours of Biblical content delivered in American Sign Language by deaf actors with English voice-overs and captions available in English and Spanish.
We’re also deep into the development and testing of a Vacation Bible School curriculum that any church can use to teach all children to Trust God.
With these, and the dreams we have for the next generation of resources, parents can confidently follow God’s instructions for teaching their deaf children about Him.
Please prayerfully consider your investment in the development of these resources. Every minute of video represents several hours of work in designing, recording, editing, and synchronizing layers of imagery, sound, and captions. It’s all necessary so that hearing parents can know what their children are learning, and hearing/hard-of-hearing siblings can enjoy learning as well.
(Finger Food Cafe, Dr. Wonder’s Workshop, and more are available at our store.)