International (MNN) — Ever heard of something called a UPG? It stands for Unreached People Group, and a total of two billion individual people fall into this “unreached” category.
The Alliance for the Unreached intends to change this statistic. As stated here, “The Alliance for the Unreached is a consortium of several missions organizations that are focused in different ways on reaching unreached peoples.”
As part of the Alliance, DOOR International focuses on the unreached Deaf population. DOOR President and CEO Rob Myers says the task ahead is monumental.
“Many are familiar with the passage that says ‘the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few’ – that’s very, very true in Deaf communities. There are very few Deaf leaders who are trained to reach other Deaf communities.”
Equipping Deaf believers as they go to unreached Deaf
Led by a senior team of Deaf Christians, DOOR International provides training in evangelism, discipleship, and church planting to Deaf believers worldwide. DOOR prioritizes unreached Deaf communities with the largest areas of need, Myers explains.
(Header and story photo courtesy of DOOR International)
In an Asian nation that can’t be named for security purposes, “They’re aware of 4,000 believers total among those more than 10 million Deaf people.” DOOR’s starting to train Deaf leaders in that country this year.
There are multiple sign language Bible translations in the works, too. “These are [for] people groups that number over 500,000 Deaf people and to date they’ve had no Scripture,” he says.
Since there are so few global Deaf ministries, it can be easy for hostile governments to target Deaf Christian workers. As such, Myers omits the name of another nation where God is doing tremendous things among the Deaf.
DOOR began ministry in this location two years ago, Myers says, and the work of a Deaf church planting team is bearing fruit. Deaf people are coming to Christ and, as they mature in their faith, are looking for ways to serve.
“Now, for the first time, Deaf believers are going to be chosen and a team is going to be formed to begin to do [Chronological Bible Translation].”
More about DOOR’s training and translation work here.
How can we help?
Remember to pray for the Deaf on June 9th: the International Day for the Unreached. An estimated 98% of the world’s 70 million Deaf people don’t know who Christ is or why He came.
“Pray also that we would continue to find Deaf workers and Deaf leaders,” Myers requests.
It’s easy to pray for the Deaf throughout the year. Click here to download a monthly prayer calendar from DOOR’s website.
“Many people just don’t know that Deaf communities are unreached by the Gospel. They don’t realize that there are still millions of people who don’t have access.” Header graphic courtesy of DOOR International via Facebook.
