Many Deaf Christians want to serve God. Many times we find barriers that block our way. We want to serve God, but there are few opportunities for us. We want to serve God, but we don't have the Bible in our heart language - our country's Sign Language. We want to serve God, but some people tell us we can't, because we are Deaf.
That's why DOOR was established - to open the "door" of the Bible, true worship, Christian service, and Christian leadership to Deaf people. DOOR started in 1983 to give Deaf people opportunities to serve and training in how to start Deaf believers' fellowships. DOOR started in the United States. Later DOOR became an international organization. Our headquarters is in the United States.
From 1999 to 2006, DOOR trained 302 Deaf people from 48 countries in Chronological Bible Storying -- learning the Bible, doctrine, and ministry skills through the stories in the Bible.
Now, DOOR is focusing on translating the Bible into different Sign Languages. We learn about Bible translation from Wycliffe Bible Translators, who have more than 60 years of experience translating the Bible into many different languages all over the world. We are training teams of Deaf people to do a very good job of translating parts of God's Word into their own language. We have several Bible translation projects in Africa, with a translation center in Kenya. We also have one translation project in the Philippines, and one in India.
Imagine ... a Sign Language Bible will not be a book. What will it look like? Maybe it will be a set of DVDs, or a flash drive full of video files, or some videos you can watch on your mobile phone! We believe that when we (Deaf people around the world) have the Bible in our own language, we will be able to learn much more about God, tell our friends about Him, grow in our faith and relationship with Him, and begin many new Deaf churches around the world.