CODA Class
CODA or KODA stands for Children/Kids Of Deaf Adults. These are children whose parent or parents are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Our ministry reaches out to these children with the Gospel of Jesus Christ to teach them that someone does love them and hear them. Not all CODA's grow up in a difficult world, but many of them are in between two cultures, the Deaf and the hearing, sometimes having difficulty distinguishing between the two. This causes difficulty to fit in a group.
These children are often used as interpreters for their parents at a very young age in which they are exposed to severe and challenging concepts they do not understand which often times leaves them fearful of life and an uncertainty of what may take place. In additioin to exposure of non adolescent concepts, they attend schools with other children of hearing parents with different views of life and expierences. This leaves them feeliing out of place or out of sorts trying to fit in with their hearing counterparts.
Our ministry helps them to develop a relationship with Christ and help them to adjust to a hearing world. We spend time with them and the parents teaching and helping them understand hearing concepts and principles they can use, yet still live in the Deaf world as a child of Deaf parents. They are never treated or told that they cannot fit in or cannot adjust to the hearing world and they are never told their culture is wrong or abnormal. CODA's need to live a healthy and productive life as any child should.
