DOOR Deaf staff has decided to sign “believers’ fellowship” instead of “church.” Why? “Church” is a good word. It’s in the Bible. But whenever we Deaf people sign “church,” we think of a building with a cross on top. We think a “church” has a full-time paid pastor. We think of “church” as people sitting quietly watching a few leaders in the front. As we have learned stories about the church in the Bible, we have learned that a church is a group of believers, meeting in homes, or outside, or anywhere. The believers all share in leadership and service. The believers all use their spiritual gifts. So we decided to sign “believers’ fellowship” instead of “church.” That just helps us to remember what it really means.
Try to imagine … a truly Deaf believers’ fellowship… where Deaf people are free to do everything following Deaf culture. What would it look like? This is what we think:
- We sit in a circle so we can all see each other.
- We meet wherever it is easy for Deaf people to gather - in a school, in a restaurant, in the park, in our homes, or maybe in a church building.
- The pastors/teachers/elders are Deaf like us. They can communicate with us, listen to us, encourage us, and teach us well, because we're all Deaf.
- The worship team is all Deaf. The songs all follow a Deaf beat with a drum, and when we watch them, our hearts are full of joy! We grow closer to Jesus as our hearts truly worship Him.
- Many Deaf believers members are involved. We sing, lead in prayer, welcome visitors, make announcements, participate in dramas, ask questions, answer questions, serve the Lord's Supper, tell biblical stories, share our testimonies, etc.
- We pray with our eyes open and looking up. We know God sees and understands our prayers, because He knows our Sign Language even better than we do.
- We learn together through beautiful signed stories straight from the Bible. We learn the stories in order, the way they really happened.
- We discuss together what the stories mean, and how God is working in our lives through His Bible stories.
- We will learn together to share Bible stories in many different places, i.e. like at school, at work, in a park, on a bus, at someone’s house, in a restaurant, etc.
- We will send, support and pray for Deaf missionaries to start new Deaf believers' fellowship- maybe to towns or villages that are close to our city, maybe to other cities or other countries far away.