... until TODAY, it was impossible!
Do you know where that phrase -- "FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS" --originated?
The Bible - in the story of Esther.
4: 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS?"
(from New International Version)
We, too, CAN NOT REMAIN SILENT!
IMPOSSIBLE!
For over 2,000 years the production of a Bible, translator's tools, and reference materials in any Sign Language was not technically possible. These resources were created in writing or print, and there is still no widely accepted, written form of any Sign Language in the world.
NOW POSSIBLE!
However, TODAY we have all the technology we need to provide these resources to the millions of Deaf around the world, utilizing video and the multiple forms of distributing information on video.
IMPACT
Huge! The list is long ... maybe a conversation between the Deaf members of the Ghana translation team will tell the story better than a long list.
K: "I remember watching those Deaf kids trying to learn. All the teachers in the school were hearing. They rarely used signs. Apparently, they were comfortable with the pupils trying to read their lips, despite the fact that the students clearly weren't getting much of the information that way. It made me realize that the Deaf kids were getting only a small portion of what the teachers were teaching.
As I continued to visit and observe, it became clear that class time was boring and frustrating for both the students and teachers. Realizing the frustration each party was going through, I offered to explain in Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL) what the teachers was saying. The students understood much better because I used signs."
K: "In Ghana, I had become very popular. I was made an evangelist because I could read a small passage from the Bible. Then I'd jump around to many other passages, preaching like a hearing pastor."
O: "I too had a small knowledge of the Bible, which I got from a Nigerian pastor. I used that knowledge to team up with K and S to evangelize in a Deaf school. We had all become evangelists."
To drive the point home, O. stood up to demonstrate how they used to preach in schools.
He opened a printed Bible (in English), and started to sign word-for-word, straight from the Bible. One hand was firmly placed on the verse in the Bible, keeping his place. He used his free hand to sign "one-handed." This is sort of equivalent to talking with food in your mouth. It'll do in an emergency, or for a quick message, but is no way to clearly teach complex concepts. Signing in English order (which is very different from GSL order and grammar) makes him halt between signs as even his own brain tries to decode the meaning. There is a lot of finger spelling of English words that he doesn't know, and skipping of some words that seem unnecessary, or just too hard. All this time he is looking down at the Bible, which prevents his viewers from seeing any emotive or grammatical information that would show on his face if he were signing in natural GSL.
K: "But ever since we came to DOOR last year and started translating the Bible, things are different. We do not preach by giving piecemeal verses to Deaf people anymore. Today we give one whole, complete story at a time. This is not only easier for Deaf people to "hear" and understand but the stories are told naturally, by other Deaf Ghanaians, in their own language - GSL."
O: "Now, let me give you an example of how we teach today... I face the people, not a book. I introduce the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus. I share the sign names that we will use for each character in the story, and I give the sign names of any locations mentioned in the story as well.
I am confident because I know Deaf people have been involved in the crafting and translation of these stories. I have memorized the story. It is all in my language, taking advantages of the complexities of GSL grammar which I couldn't begin to explain to you, but know in the very core of my being.
I don't struggle to figure out the meaning of some English word which is foreign to me, which means I do much less fingerspelling. Many Deaf people get lost with too much fingerspelling, which constantly distracts them as they try to figure out the meaning of English words they may not know.
I don't strain to remember what the hearing pastor said, which I've memorized without completely understanding or checking for accuracy.
I can sign the entire story looking up at my audience, and using my face and eyes for all the intricate details needed in GSL. Looking at my audience also enables me to get feedback, I can tell if they're concentrating or not and if my audience has missed something, or didn't understand. That gives me the freedom to interact with and react to my audience."
K: "Last November, when we returned to Ghana after our first term in Kenya, I returned to a school where I had taught in the past. This time, I used my ‘Deaf 
hands' to tell a Bible story in GSL, as we had translated it in Kenya. This was my first time to teach this way in Ghana. The students were amazed, first of all, because it was the first time they had seen anything like this.
Then we started discussing the story, and there was so much more participation than before, because this time, God's stories were told in their heart language. They even raised their hands to ask questions - that was new. This was a wonderful way to see what they had understood from the stories. I could tell that the students were really happy to learn this way in their own language."
"There was such a demand that I found myself teaching until the last day I was to fly back to Kenya for our second term of translation,"
THE PROBLEM
There may be as many as 400 Sign Languages in the world that require a Bible translation. Numerous Sign Language translation teams are beginning to form around the world but not none of them have a "source" text in a Sign Language that has been both exegetically checked and community tested.
THE SOLUTION
• Produce a clear, accurate, natural, and acceptable translation of selected scripture passages into Sign Languages.
• Produce a translator's reference library that can be adapted to other Sign Languages and used by Deaf consultants, consultants in training, facilitators and Deaf hand translation team members.
All material produced by a Deaf team
All material both exegetically and community tested.
FOR SUCH A TIMES AS THIS ... DOOR believe the best way to truly assist the Deaf is by developing a firm foundation of chronological Bible stories (CBS).
Is it your time
to join with DOOR
to make God's Word available
to every Deaf person around the world?