Raymond Rohrer is pastor of the First Deaf Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Penn., one of only three Mennonite churches for the deaf in the U.S. A quiet, soft-spoken patient man, he was a printer before leaving the trade to devote full time to church work. He has no regrets.

He and his wife, Elizabeth, were born deaf and were childhood friends because their families lived only 20 miles apart and sometimes attended church functions together. They communicate in fluent ASL.

Elizabeth Rohrer is a classic grandmother getting more beautiful with age. Like her husband, she is soft-spoken, gentle natured and has patience to spare. She takes a low-key but effective approach to being a pastor's wife.

They have been married 35 years and have three grown children, all with normal hearing.

Raymond: Elizabeth and I have known each other since we were little kids because we didn't live far from each other--only 20 miles, which isn't far in farm country. We'd see each other in church and sometimes our families would visit, drawn together by having deaf children. Mennonites are great at visiting. We would play together while the old folks talked, but that was it.

Elizabeth: I don't think he thought of me as a girl until we were in our teens.

Raymond: Then I found her. We started talking to each other at fellowships and other church activities and enjoyed each other's company.

Elizabeth: (Laughs) It took him a long time to notice me. Finally he started asking if he could take me home from church and socials. He was always very polite.

Raymond: It was at a classmate's wedding, when he invited me to bring a friend, that I decided my future wife was sitting right there beside me.

Elizabeth: We were married a year after I graduated from high school. I never worked while the children were growing up and until our last daughter was a sophomore in high school, then I got a part-time job which turned into full-time work. When Raymond became a full-time pastor, I quit my job and returned to being a homemaker. I'm very happy that I'm able to help my husband with his ministry.

Raymond: We both graduated from the Mt. Airy School for the Deaf in Philadelphia. I learned printing there and followed the trade until I was asked to become pastor of the First Deaf Mennonite Church in Lancaster in 1973. My father, who had normal hearing, was a pastor to the deaf and my grandparents were both deaf. Our children and grandchildren are all hearing. It's odd how deafness seems to skip a generation in our family.

Elizabeth: Raymond had an easier time growing up because his parents could communicate with him when he was small. I was such a bad girl when I was small. Sometimes my mother would come and go and I would get angry and kick her! It was out of frustration; I didn't know what was going on and it seemed the only way I could get attention was to act up. My parents didn't know what to do with me until they met the Rohrers. As I grew up, I became more understanding and my temper tantrums subsided.

I'm so thankful that I attended school. I enjoyed Mt. Airy School for the Deaf even though it was very oral at that time and we were forbidden to use sign language in class and they tried to stop us from signing in the dormitory, but they couldn't. Anyway, I picked up a little speech and lipreading and learned a few things in class and many things outside the classroom. I loved sports and played hockey and basketball while I was there.

Raymond: Although I had taught Sunday School for many years and would occasionally preach to the deaf, I'd never gone to seminary to study to become a pastor. After the former pastor stepped down, the church was without a pastor for some time, then he recommended that I be given the job. So that's how I became the current pastor. I enjoy my work very much. As a printer, I had the same old daily grind but as a pastor I have the challenge of preparing sermons, counseling, meeting new people and traveling on church-related business.

We now have 30 to 35 deaf people attending our church on Sunday mornings and there are other activities such as men's fellowship, the women's fellowship and socials. It keeps us busy and it never gets dull.

Elizabeth: We do keep busy. When someone is sick, we'll visit them in the hospital, I may cook a covered dish and bring it to them or help by babysitting for their children. Sometimes the women in our church work together on quilts or comforters and give them to needy people. I love sewing; it's my hobby.

I also love to cook. I'm always looking for new recipes to surprise my husband. He likes to try different kinds of food. He eats everything but I'm the one who gains weight (sighs).

Raymond: (Chuckles) Well, it helps to have thin parents and grandparents.

When I first became a pastor, I felt the need for more training so I went to a Bible institute in our area once a week for two years. That was a big help. Also I grew up in a Christian home; my father was a pastor and taught me about the Bible. Through my studies and with God's help, I've always been able to learn something.

Most hearing pastors graduate from seminary before beginning full-time work in the church. I was an exception. Even if I had gone to a seminary, I would have had to have an interpreter. It would be better for a deaf pastor to go to a program especially for the deaf but there aren't any. Further, when I became the pastor, I was already over 40 yeras old and I thought it was a little late to be going to a seminary.

I would guess there are about 100,000 Mennonites in the United States and we've been growing very slowly. Some people leave and new ones come in and we have an open ministry to immigrants like from China, Vietnam and Mexico. They've been building new churches but the growth is very slow. As far as I know, there are only three deaf Mennonite churches in the country. There's the one here, one in York and one in Orville, Ohio, which is near Canton. Other areas have deaf Mennonites but they're isolated with just one or two within a congregation so it would be difficult for them to have a church of their own.

Perhaps you'd be interested in the Mennonites' beliefs and way of life. There's really not much difference in the Mennonite Church and other Christian churches. We believe in peace and try not to become involved in war. We're often called peace makers. We believe in non-resistance. If you're slapped on one cheek, turn the other cheek. Jesus taught us that we should love our enemies and we follow His teachings.

We often come to the aid of others. For example, if a hurricane or tornado should destroy a house, everyone will get together and come to their aid, either rebuilding the house or cleaning it up. People call it Mennonite Disaster Relief.

The church was originally begun in Switzerland after the Protestant Reformation. That's when the churches broke away from the Catholic Church. Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation and other people followed right along, but there was one group that didn't go along with the idea of having the church and state connected and baptizing babies. That group was called the Anabaptists. They believe that since babies couldn't understand what they were going through, they should not be baptized. Our group developed from the Anabaptists. There was a man named Menno Simons who was a Catholic monk. After studying the scriptures, he decided to break away from the Catholic Church and wrote a book on his own theology. It's from that man that we get our name Mennonites.

The deaf church here started with a congregation in 1945 that continued in existence until about 1970. The previous pastor noticed that the same deaf people kept coming to the meetings with their hearing children and their hearing children had no opportunity for other associations in the church. So he studied how other churches were handling the problem. He noticed that in many churches they would have a large group of hearing people and an interpreter for a small group of deaf people and the hearing children of deaf members would associate with other hearing members. But the deaf people preferred a pastor who could sign for himself because the interpreters had a hard time keeping up with the pastor and the deaf congregation often had trouble following the speaker because of the language used. So our pastor asked us how would we feel about inviting several hearing families that were interested in sign language to be a part of our congregation. We all agreed it would be a good idea.

After the families joined, we grew so quickly in size that we had to divide into two congregations. We now have one congregation for the deaf and another for the hearing. We have arranged it so that while the deaf congregation is worshipping, the hearing congregation is attending Sunday School. When they finish, the groups switch. That way the children of deaf parents can attend services with the hearing congregation at the same time.

Before this, we sold our old church building and bought an old school which is four times larger than our old church. It's much more comfortable and there's room for two congregations. We have a fellowship hall where we can associate with one another and occasionally have meals. We're not finished yet with the remodeling. We're still working on the west wing.

The church has set up a budget and encourages people to give. There are no requirements but the Bible does teach that people should tithe. So far, every year we've almost met our budget but you should realize that this is because the contributions from both congregations are pooled. If we had to depend on just the contributions from the deaf congregation, I don't think we could meet our budget.

We really don't have many young deaf people in our congregation. I'd say we have only 10 to 15 in the 20-to-30-year-old bracket. Under the age of 20, we really don't have many at all. It's hard to find them because many are in mainstream schools and there is no way to contact them or their parents.

Our church sponsors a deaf youth camp every year, with an attendance of about 30 to 40. That's one of the highlights of our church calendar. Also our church has an annual picnic and we get, oh, about 200 to 300 people from the neighboring area. People come from all over to meet one another and talk. Just this Christmas, for the very first time, the deaf members put on a drama. It involved three months of rehearsals and they gave the performance on Christmas Day. It was great. We had about 75 deaf people from surrounding areas in the audience.

People often confuse the Amish and Mennonites. Some people think there's no difference between the Amish and the Mennonites. Our beliefs are almost the same, but the way that we express them, our lifestyle and our culture are different. Mennonites dress the same as most other people, drive cars and have electricity in their homes along with ranges, washers and dryers, TV sets and other appliances. The Amish are very strict about their clothing and don't drive cars or have electricity in their homes. They use gasoline generators for power. Most of them don't have telephones. But there is variety in the Amish community.

When the Amish need special transportation, they'll charter a van and go together. The majority of the Amish work on farms and they don't have the modern machinery most farmers use. However, they are very industrious people. If you put them up against modern mechanical harvesting equipment, their output is almost equal. They'll finish the work in about the same time. You can't believe how hard they work. Some are carpenters and craftsmen and use power tools on the job.

It's interesting, their values about money. Oh, yes, they sometimes need to borrow money from the bank just like others. But they are so reliable about paying it back they never have any trouble getting a loan. The banks put a lot of trust in Amish to repay loans because rarely do the Amish fail with their financial deals. The values are passed on from one generation to the next.

Mennonites are more involved in the community and politics than the Amish. Some Mennonite people have run for political offices.

Elizabeth: We continue to be involved with the Pennsylvania Society for the Advancement of the Deaf. It's a good organization. We meet four times a year and in 1989, we'll host the PSAD Convention here in Lancaster. We're already planning for it. It involves a lot of people and a lot of work.

Raymond: The PSAD acts as an advocacy group. We need it. Education of the deaf is quite different from what it used to be and it's hard for me to accept. In the past, it seems that deaf people were more socially oriented. The quality of education today may be equal but there are fewer opportunities for the children to socialize. Perhaps it will get better, perhaps it will get worse; it's hard to say. Some of the deaf people who went to mainstream schools are just great. They're bright, alert. But others who were mainstreamed are not and they're very poor signers. They can't function in the hearing community and they aren't comfortable in the deaf community. I believe some of them will eventually improve their sign language skills and find their place in the deaf community. I'll feel sorry for those who don't.

Next morning we attended services in the First Deaf Mennonite Church. There were about 40 deaf people in attendance, some of whom had come as far as 25 miles away. Pastor Rohrer's sermon was strong in its simplicity and expressed beautifully in ASL. At the conclusion of the worship service, the deaf and hearing congregations changed rooms and greeted each other in passing. A strong bond was evident between the two congregations and the arrangement made a lot of economic sense.

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