Deaf Christians tell us about the significance of Christian BSL’s recently broadcasted Carol Service (BSL)

On Sunday 10th December, five of the United Kingdom’s major Christian denominations; The Church of England, The Church of Scotland, The Church in Wales, The Methodist Church of Great Britain, and The Baptist Union of Great Britain (Baptists Together) released their very own special Christmas Carol Service via Christian BSL.

The service, titled “The Christian BSL Carol Service,” was hosted on their Facebook Pages and YouTube Channels with the theme of “The Magi.” The service was led entirely in British Sign Language (BSL) by Deaf Christians and also included captions and spoken English translation.

Two of the Deaf Christians who led parts of the service – Mary -Jayne Russell de Clifford and Veronica Stewart-Holmes have shared their thoughts about the significance of the event and the whole filming experience below:

MARY-JAYNE: The Christian BSL carol service is going to have a tremendous impact on the Deaf community.

Historically, many Deaf people can only access the carols and the Christmas services through interpreters or reading the words. But this is an opportunity for Deaf BSL users to see and understand God’s Word in their own language. For many, this might be the first time that they have fully grasped the meaning of the words in the carols and Bible passages.

BSL is such a beautifully rich language that really lends itself to the power of storytelling. So using BSL for a service such as this, we can really help others to understand the Christmas message and the carols associated with it.

Whilst I have extensive experience working in the world of theatre, TV production was new to me. At first I felt a real challenge when it came to the make-up because I had to have far more make-up than I would usually wear. I’ll be honest, I looked in the mirror and thought I looked awful.

It was only later on when I saw the trailer that I realised the importance of TV make-up and how wonderfully well it worked on television. TV make up is very different from regular make-up.

It was also fascinating to experience a different area of the arts. I’d never seen behind the scenes of a TV production or experienced the pace of it all. To get a glimpse into the hidden world behind the scenes of a televison set, and to see the technology that can be used in a TV studio when filming, it was really fascinating and such an interesting process.

My hope for the future is that there will be more BSL services, not just at Christmas but also at Easter and throughout the year.

The Deaf community is really struggling, provisions that we had such as Deaf Club or Deaf Church all being mainstreamed and that takes us out of our world and into the hearing world. With that comes an inevitable loss of identity and Deaf culture.

The number of Deaf-led spaces is decreasing and that reduces the percentage of the UK Deaf community who are able to worship at church in a Deaf-led environment.

To have the opportunity for this Deaf-led carol service to be streamed online, it opens this up to so many more Deaf people to be able to experience God.

This is an opportunity for the hearing world to have an insight into the Deaf world and the Deaf Church, our values and our community. And that’s beautiful.

VERONICA:  I was involved in the Christian BSL service this year and the whole event was magical. Of course, the venue is a beautiful old building, but it wasn’t just that. It was the people coming together to create community.

As a cast we were family and we knew each other and we know God and we believe in Jesus. And sharing that faith together was a really positive experience.

There were lots of times of fellowship and coming together of the cast, crew, and interpreters, which was lovely. But there was also an opportunity for our Deaf identity to flourish.

Everybody worked so hard to work together in unity. That was lovely, that was what made it magical, that’s how it should be really. Everybody uniting to come together.

I really valued the opportunity to present. I also loved signing the carols however my work with ChristianBSL.com wasn’t my first experience in front of the camera.

When I was younger there were two very important Deaf role models to me in Wendy Daunt and Jerry Hanifin. I have to give credit to both of them for encouraging me and giving me the confidence to present to camera.

Had you asked me then I would never have envisaged I would have been a part of something like Christian BSL and presenting a national church service and serving God in this way.

Underlying everything is my strong faith and belief in God. That’s what all combined to make the magic of the experience. It was so wonderful to be part of the team. It felt like a great privilege. And my hope is that we’ll continue to spread the Good News of the gospel through BSL.

I was really privileged to be part of a team of Deaf translators and interpreters. We all worked together to work out the best placement and presentation of the text and songs.

Over the years I’ve learnt a lot of Bible verses through presenting. But actually when I translate them it becomes very powerful, that understanding of the Bible and the scripture.

For those that can hear it there’s also the music and that all combines together to create an integrated service that can be enjoyed by both Deaf and hearing individuals together.

To view the recorded service and to find more information about Christian BSL click here.