International (MNN) — There are 70 million Deaf people worldwide, and 98-percent of them have no way to access God. No Scripture, no churches, no Deaf Christians.
DOOR International wants to change this reality for 50-percent of the world’s Deaf by 2025. They’ve described their intentions in a mission code-named “50×25”, and you can learn more about it here.
DOOR President Rob Myers says when Deaf encounter the hope of Christ, lives tend to change.
“We have amazing stories of transformation and the things that God has done in the lives of Deaf communities and Deaf leaders who suddenly have realized that God sees them…and wants them to be on a mission for Him.”
Those Deaf Christian leaders direct and carry out DOOR’s ministry, while hearing believers like Myers help with administration.
Deaf reaching Deaf
(Graphic courtesy of DOOR International via Facebook)
The goal of DOOR’s 50×25 mission is described as such:
By 2025, 50% of the world’s 70 million Deaf will have access to God’s Word in their heart language and a church planting movement among their own people group.
It reflects DOOR’s efforts in sign language Bible translation and Deaf-to-Deaf church planting. Learn more about that work here. Both aspects are critical to reaching a Deaf community because the methods work hand-in-hand.
Deaf teams trained by DOOR use Chronological Bible Translation to translate biblical narratives into a sign language. At the same time, Deaf church planting teams – also trained by DOOR – use the translated Scripture to introduce the community to Christ, disciple new believers, and train more leaders.
Whether Deaf or hearing, every DOOR team member is striving to make the 50-by-25 vision reality. There’s a lot of work to do.
“There are about 350 or more sign languages around the world, so that would mean 350 Deaf groups – every one of those Deaf groups is unreached, in the sense that less than 2%…are believers,” Myers explains.
Next steps
As described here, partnership plays a critical role in accomplishing this 50×25 mission. You can team up with DOOR in three easy ways: pray, share, and give.
Pray
“As people pray, they’re doing incredible things to make a way for the Gospel to go out into these communities,” states Myers. Download a monthly prayer calendar from DOOR’s website.
“Spiritual warfare is a huge issue in the work that we do… The enemy doesn’t want to see the Gospel begin to set people free.”
Share
Use the buttons at the bottom of this page to help DOOR raise awareness of Deaf needs.
“Many times, these Deaf groups have not been targeted [for outreach] because…nobody knew that these groups actually didn’t have access to the Gospel,” Myers says.
Give
When you donate to DOOR International, you help Deaf leaders receive the tools and training they need to fulfill the Great Commission.
Header image courtesy of DOOR International.
