The book:
“God’s Sign Language”
God's Sign Language
Brother Andrew’s book “God’s Sign Language” is finally available in English. We would love to send you his book, for free! We will even pay for the shipping costs. Yes, we carefully budget, but the message of the book is the engine behind our projects. It needs to be shared.
The paintings of his twin brother Roger provide an entrance to a world where priest-monk Brother Andrew takes you to have a new look at the present-day relevance, consequences and applications of centuries-old Biblical stories. You will meet Abraham – God’s friend – and his sons Isaac and Ishmael.
You will get to know his slave Hagar, Ishmael’s mother, and hopefully learn to look at Biblical stories through Middle Eastern eyes. It may well change your views about Almighty God, but especially also about Muslims and Christians. Touched by the Almighty this “follower of the Cross” shares his personal experiences and insights and takes you closer to Jesus the Messiah.
Donate?
Would you like to give a one-time donation? Using the form below you can donate safely online via Paypal.
More about the book:
‘The Word of Life’; Jesus’ disciples understood that ‘Word’ and ‘Life’ belong together. In the beginning, God spoke and He has never ceased speaking since. In the same vein Brother Andrew de Carpentier has used his stories to speak of his life and work. With God’s calling and almost 50 years of living and working in the Middle East as a priest and monk – as a Father and a Brother, this book will attempt to speak of things that cannot be told, and show things that cannot be seen.
The Land where Jesus walked
Brother Andrew’s twin brother Roger re-connects us through his paintings with Biblical persons and places, reflecting insights and perspectives from Andrew’s life as a follower of Jesus the Messiah – the Christ – in Jordan and the Middle East region. It is the land where Jesus walked, prophets spoke words of wisdom and of life, the Spirit of God descended upon the Lamb of God in the form of a dove, and God’s voice was heard to say how much he appreciated his eldest, his beloved: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” He is ‘the living Word of God’ – as is written in the Quran … For that is the message of the Holy Land.
The Middle East is almost synonymous with ‘conflict’ between Christians, Muslims and Jews. But is that really necessary? Particularly on this topic, Brother Andrew’s insights may surprise us. Starting with the friendship between God Almighty and Abraham, what is the scope of the blessing of Abraham? What special role is there for Ishmael’s mother, Hagar? What about our ponderings and God’s divine thinking?
Action
Andrew’s words challenge us into action; through his passionate works on a global scale involving innovative technologies to fit hearing aids – particularly for people unable to afford them; his research into the possibilities that new technologies offer people who are deafblind to communicate between themselves and with others beyond the current one-on-one settings; and his work on increasing the quantity as well as stronger professional skills of sign language interpreters for Deaf people.
“The Bible took on
a life on its own”
Co-author René Kolsters
Authors
Brother Andrew de Carpentier
Arie L. de Carpentier, alias Brother Andrew, grew up in Dordrecht, The Netherlands. He was 40 years director of the Holy Land Institute for Deaf and Deafblind Children in Salt, Jordan. As an Anglican monk and priest, he served thousands of children and adults in the Middle East region who were Deaf, deafblind or had other disabilities. By the end of 2017, he retired from this post, and ‘re-invented’ himself to become a consultant and advisor for a variety of organisations. His skills, knowledge and experience made him a unique resource person who continued to provide many people with the practical resources and spiritual counsel they needed. Sadly he unexpectedly passed away in 2020. But his inspiration lives on.
René Kolsters
During his education to become a journalist René wrote an article about a meeting where Brother Andrew gave a presentation. His words left a profound impression on
him. It seemed as though the Bible took on a life of its own. No tongues of fire but a fiery tongue indeed, which seemed to blow as only the Spirit can. The world upside down. Makes
you think of Somebody else… Together with his father – a friend of Brother Andrew’s from their youth – he decided to go to Jordan to get to know more. He spent a few days in Brother Andrew’s company and for many years afterwards, he went to Jordan a couple of times a year to support the Institute where Brother Andrew was the director, by producing newsletters and fixing IT problems. In Roger’s later years, his illness re-united the two brothers. The arguments were finally buried, in no small measure due to Roger’s wife Geertje who said one day rather animatedly: “And now I have had enough of your bickering. I don’t want to hear another word!” Andrew enjoyed Roger’s paintings and Roger was happy with Andrew’s stories. We would like to present to you; the brothers – their paintings and their stories; together. During those years he learned much from the priest and the co-workers at the institute. In 2015 he even worked as a volunteer for half a year at the institute and lived there with his family. At the time his efforts to write a book about ‘the Institute’ met with success, but although something similar about Br. Andrew and his message failed, the desire remained. During the trip at the end of 2018 which René, his wife Tanja and Brother Andrew made through the United States the time for a book as envisaged had arrived. And here we are! The message that got to him so many years ago can now be shared with many others.
STORIES
Christmas
In the story ‘Christmas’, Brother Andrew portrays Christmas from a Middle Eastern context. “In the living room of your house, among your family, in your everyday lives, in our hearts is where he wishes to be born today!”
God’s Sign language!
The story below ‘God’s sign language’ is one of the many stories from the book ‘God’s Sign language’. The book is currently published in Dutch.
Bethany-beyond-Jordan
In the story ‘Crossing Bethany’ Brother Andrew gets into a conversation with someone who has strange dreams: “I think that the Lord Jesus the Messiah, Son of Mary, Peace be upon him, would very much want to get to know you and would really appreciate visiting you.”
VIDEOS
Brother Andrew: 'Be the message'
Brother Andrew gives a passionate talk on ‘Faith and Society’ at the 2013 COEXIST event in Amman, Jordan. His key point: ‘Be the message!’. The Youth Association for Reality & Awareness (Y.A.R.A.) aims to make the world a better place to live.
Memorial Brother Andrew
“A Sign from Above”. Under this heading we want to commemorate Brother Andrew during an online gathering on Saturday, November 28. The commemoration in English takes place from 20:15h – 22:00h (UK time) via YouTube live stream.
NEWS
Final report exchange 2024
The 5 Deaf and 3 hearing representatives from the Jordanian Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities are safely back in Jordan. They completed the intensive 8-days program with visits to schools and organisations for deaf education and interpreter training.
Inclusive education, Deaf History and more
The last school we visited was Kentalis Compas College Zaltbommel, a secondary school for deaf and hard of hearing. A Deaf employee prepared an interesting program.
Deaf culture, gym and future cooperation?
There are several special education schools in Holland and one of them is Signis primary Deaf school in Amsterdam, which is part of Koninklijke Kentalis.