Collaboration with deaf organisations

Right from the outset, the ministers for the deaf had close connections to the regional deaf associations and the national organisation. All parties regarded this collaboration as beneficial. For the ministers, associations offered a natural communications channel, and for associations the ministers were welcome visitors as lecturers and organisers of devotionals.

Some of the ministers also held elected positions in the regional or national organisations. Huugo Nyberg acted as a travelling official, a board member of the Association for the Deaf and the editorial coordinator and the editor-in-chief of Kuuromykkäin Lehti magazine. He believed strongly that associations should have rearing and educational goals and a Christian foundation.

The ministers for the deaf operated on the interface between two worlds. Their work helped connect deaf people to one another and to the hearing community. At the same time, this position gave them an opportunity to strongly influence the direction and content of deaf association activities.

After the wars, discussion began on work that deaf laypeople could function in congregations and in 1948 the first courses for such tasks were held. The goal was to increase their awareness of church activities  encourage participation. The programme included prayer meetings, Bible study and opportunities to study religious matters more profoundly. Church councils for the deaf in various municipalities were another channel for deaf people to actively participate in church activities. .

In the 1950s, an interest in missionary work and support for deaf Africans emerged. First, a missionary sewing club met under the guidance of sister Eeva Malmila and the Kuurojen Lähetys deaf missionary society was established in 1955. It supported schools for the deaf abroad, such as the Keren school in Eritrea.