by Bruce Persons, a church planter in Frederick, Maryland
One reason Christianity spread rapidly throughout the Roman world during the first century A.D. was that everyone spoke and wrote in Hellenistic Greek. Today, American Sign Language (ASL) is one of the most well-known and widely spoken sign languages in the world.
God has given the Church ASL to proclaim the gospel message to deaf and hard-of-hearing people and across various racial and socioeconomic divides. That is why our church-planting team started The Table, a plant in Frederick, Maryland, with services in ASL.
Like many people in America, deaf people in our community are resistant to the gospel due largely to relativism and the New Age movement. Many of them also had bad experiences with church or Christians when they were growing up and are skeptical of Christians’ motives. Therefore, we are trying to create a faith community where they can experience true love, acceptance, and belonging.
We are beginning to see transformation in families’ lives as a result of our church. Many parents who moved from out of state feel supported and encouraged to raise their children according to biblical values. The unchurched have felt at home with The Table and are becoming engaged in active ministry in the community.
The church has grown from six people in May 2016 to about 75. We also live-stream our weekly ASL Sunday worship services and our Thursday night services for Bison Christian Fellowship, a C&MA ministry to young people at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., on Facebook. Several hundred people, sometimes more than a thousand, engage with the gospel through our broadcasts every week.
Sharing the Gospel with Deaf Youth
Since I established Bison Christian Fellowship to reach the students at Gallaudet University, many of them have expressed an immense sense of relief, appreciation, and gratitude to be part of a Christian group on campus.
Gallaudet is the only deaf liberal arts university in the world and is widely viewed as a symbol of hope for deaf people. They are flocking to this institution for higher education, but only 2–4 percent of them follow Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.
Through our strong Christian presence at Gallaudet, students and staff members have been set free from porn addiction and depression. Several of our student leaders are being trained and empowered to plan events, lead worship services, and provide spiritual care for other Christian students on campus.
However, there was a void in terms of ministry to deaf young people, as there was no place in Frederick where young adults could gather in a Christ-centered environment. One of the first things I did as a church planter was start a young adult Bible study. It is led in ASL, and mostly deaf people attend.
One young man named Bill* started attending our weekly meetings. One night, some of us went to McDonald’s afterward for a late-night snack. During the conversation, Bill told me he believed everything I was teaching and asked me how he could be saved. We prayed for Christ to forgive his sins that night, and Bill continues to be active in our church.
Get Involved
If you want to be more involved with church planting or learn more about the U.S. Alliance’s church-planting movement, please visit Church-Planting Sunday.
*Name changed