International (MNN) — DOOR International’s mission is to equip the Deaf to bring the gospel to their own communities. There are an estimated 70 million Deaf people in the world today, and less than 2 percent know Jesus as Savior.
Bible translation is a pressing front within Deaf ministry. Of the around 400 sign languages in the world, “over 100 have some sort of Scripture translation that’s been started,” says Rob Myers with DOOR.
Deaf people are part of one of the largest unreached people groups of the world. Part of that is due to a lack of training and resources available in sign language. With God’s help, this is slowly changing.
(Photo, caption courtesy of DOOR International)
“So we’ve passed the 25 percent mark, but that still leaves a vast majority of those sign languages without even a single verse of Scripture.”
Myers says the team has recognized a critical need for Bible translation specialists to serve among the Deaf around the world — and that’s a role both Deaf and hearing folks can be part of filling.
“If we want to translate the Bible into a sign language in Sri Lanka, then it should be Sri Lankan Deaf people who are translating that Bible,” Myers says.
“But it’s often the case that Deaf people from a place like Sri Lanka didn’t grow up with a lot of biblical background. They may not have formal training in the linguistics of their own language. They may not know about biblical culture, [or] some of these other things, so that when they go to try to read the Bible and then interpret it into their own sign language, there’s a lot of information that’s missing.”
That’s where Deaf as well as hearing Bible translation specialists come in to serve alongside Deaf translators.
“[They] provide some of the explanation and background information that they need to translate the Bible effectively,” Myers says.
A consultant checks the work of DOOR’s sign language Bible translation partners in Tanzania.
(Photo courtesy of DOOR International
“Somebody who who is passionate about languages, is passionate about supporting Deaf people, has some biblical background, has some linguistics background, is a great candidate to step into a role like a translation consultant.”
Myers explains that the number of people who know sign language fluently is small, the number of believers among those is even smaller. Then, those who have specific training in Bible translation or evangelism or discipleship are even fewer.
“So we really feel like a central role of our call here (at DOOR) is to expand that pool. Expanding that pool means training more people, developing more resources in that training so that we can see more and more impact, more Deaf leaders empowered to reach their own communities and beyond,” Myers says.
Join in praying for God to bring more people with these sets of skills into the world. Pray that they would become common instead of a rarity!
Header photo courtesy of DOOR International.
