Deaf Initiative Update, November 2021 - Deaf Workers Wanted

Praying for God’s Provision

For several years Christar staff, along with some of our prayer partners, have been praying for the least-reached Deaf who have little or no access to the gospel. We’ve asked God to send workers into this special harvest: workers who would be willing to learn the local sign languages in order to reach people who haven’t yet been introduced to the good news.

Now Christar is taking these prayers one step further: We are asking God to raise up Deaf workers for the Deaf Harvest. Of course, the Lord has used many hearing people to reach the Deaf in the past, and He will continue to do so. There’s just a special connection a Deaf person feels when meeting another Deaf person, even one from another country. Even if they use different sign languages, they have shared ways to communicate.

Christar does not yet have any Deaf workers, though we are grateful that several individuals preparing to go overseas want to serve in Deaf communities and that a couple of long-term workers in the Middle East have been reaching out to Deaf immigrants and refugees. If God wills, these workers would like to organize a big outreach to Deaf Persians during a major holiday in spring 2022. Their desire is to have short-term helpers, preferably Deaf believers, come assist them for one or two weeks during special festival events. By God’s grace, many Deaf Persians will attend these events, enabling the long-term workers to make connections that develop into long-term relationships.

Because of COVID-19 and resulting travel restrictions, these events could not be held last year. Would you pray with us that God would make a way for this outreach to take place next year? And would you ask the Lord to provide short-term workers to be a part of it?

In addition, would you lift up my time interacting with Deaf believers? Once a month, I visit local Deaf churches to introduce them to Christar and our Deaf Initiative. Please pray that God would bless these visits. Perhaps He might be pleased to raise up short-term workers from the contacts I make at these churches!

The 2022 outreach is scheduled around the first day of spring. (For students and teachers, this might coincide with spring break.) If you know anyone who is fluent American Sign Language who might be interested in this short-term ministry in the Middle East, please let us know. Our preference is that Deaf short-termers be part of this trip, but hearing people who understand Deaf culture and ASL are welcome to apply, too.