Parts of Africa planting deaf churches, reaching more

Deaf people will soon have a chance to learn about the good news of Jesus Christ through the planting of deaf churches in Angola and South Africa.

"There are some strong Deaf leaders and Deaf believers" in South Africa, says DOOR International’s Rob Myers.

According to Mission Network News, less than two percent of the world’s 70 million Deaf people have any access to the Gospel. This makes the deaf community one of the least reached people groups for the gospel.

DOOR International is a Deaf-led training and translation ministry. They have a new program called '2 x 2' which is from the Scripture found in Luke 10. 

"Somewhere between April and June, four leaders [from Angola and South Africa] are heading out into the field to live, work, observe, and serve alongside existing two-by-two teams," Myers says. "They’ll gain some of the tools they need; then, they will head back into their country and continue the process."

DOOR is working on providing video curriculum for deaf church planters. 

"We (hearing people) think of reading as a visual exercise. But reading is an audio exercise; you sound out words connected to a language you already know. So, for most Deaf people, reading is a second language, and sign language is their first language."

DOOR's goal is to reach 50% of the world’s Deaf by 2025. Currently, around 23% of the Deaf communities in the world have access to both some translated Scripture and a church planting movement in their people groups.