"How Can They Believe in the One of Whom They Have Not Heard? And How Can They Hear without Someone Preaching to Them?" Evangelizing the Deaf Community by Overcoming the Obstacle of the Spoken Word

Abstract

Deaf ministries can be found in almost every church body in the United States. However, less than 10% of deaf people attend church. Evangelism to the deaf community is often hindered because of the communication barrier as well as the paradigm within the deaf culture. This paper will explore the scriptural bases for deaf evangelism, become familiar with the history of deaf culture and mission work, examine the current state of missions to the deaf community in the four major Lutheran church bodies, and expose successes and challenges that these missions face. The ultimate goal of this paper was to encourage and enable the members Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod to evangelize to the deaf community by overcoming the obstacle of the spoken word.