Why Sign Language Bible Translation

One of the more common questions Carolyn and I are asked when we tell people that we will be working with the Deaf in sign language Bible translation, is “Why can’t they just read the printed Bible?”  In English for example, there are over a hundred Bible translations – why do Deaf in America need one specifically in American Sign Language?

It’s a good question, but there isn’t a simple answer.  You see, we learned that less than 2% of the Deaf around the world have been reached with the Gospel.  That means that over 98% of the estimated 70 million Deaf are lost; that is staggering.  Through discussion and reading, we learned that there are three main barriers that create this separation.
 

The Story of Gambarambi

A man in Zimbabwe named Gambarambi (Gahm-ba-rom-bee) would sit by the side of the road talking with people and smoking his hand-rolled cigarettes. A Bible translator who was translating the New Testament into Gambarambi’s language and he really wanted Gamabarmbi to have a New Testament. When he told Gambarambi this, Gambarambi told him that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea as he would tear the pages out and use them for his cigarettes.

The translator was in a quandary as to what he should do as he knew that Gambarambi needed to read about Jesus but he didn’t relish the thought of the New Testament being used for cigarette paper. He prayed about it and came up with an agreement for Gambarambi.

Changed by Prayer

In November 1983, David and Ray began praying that the Juni people of Sudan (a community of over 40,000 people) would receive the Bible in their own language. In May 1986, Jerry and Jan started praying for the Juni people as well. And in March 1990, Jane and Margie began praying too.

It turns out that the same month in 1983 that David and Ray started to pray, a young Juni man became a Christian! In June 1986, this man was accepted into a program for theological studies - just after Jerry and Jan began to pray! He later applied to study linguistics and translation so that he could translate God’s Word for his people. And in March 1990, the year that Jane and Margie began to pray, he was accepted as a Bible translation student.