As more believers see needs in the global Deaf community, they increasingly support sign language Bible translation. Dan* from DOOR International says Scripture distribution – providing Deaf believers with access to the finished translation – is advancing, too.

“It’s an exciting and challenging time in Scripture distribution. Thirty years ago, doing Scripture distribution on video looked like a stack of VHS tapes,” Dan says.

“Deaf people are more connected and more able to communicate with other Deaf people [today] than ever before in history.”

A brand new department at DOOR focuses exclusively on Scripture distribution. “Scripture distribution is the process of getting Scripture into people’s hands,” Dan explains.

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This process involves “everything from logistics to researching new technology, interviewing and networking with the local community to figure out what their needs are, uploading files to the internet …[and] even some local networking options,” he continues.

As you may know, Deaf people need to see God’s Word to make a heart connection, not just read it on a page.

“For most Deaf people, spoken and written language is their second language. Most Deaf people grow up using a sign language. Written languages, the writing systems, are based on sound. For a Deaf person who’s never heard those, getting a good handle on those languages is difficult,” Dan explains.

“As Bible translators, we want to make a translation available in people’s heart language. For Deaf people, that’s a sign language.”

Connect with DOOR here to learn how you fuel Scripture distribution efforts. Most importantly, pray. “Pray that we would have wisdom in meeting the needs of people; that we would come up with creative solutions,” Dan requests.

“Pray that technology would continually evolve to make this content more accessible for (Deaf) people around the world.”

*Name withheld for security purposes

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Written by Katey Heart. This story originally appeared at Mission Network News and is republished here with permission.