On a tiny island in the Indian Ocean, a local believer named Kenny was running into a wall. He had met a young Deaf man named Christopher and wanted so badly to share the Gospel with him. But Kenny didn’t know any sign language and communicating over text was challenging. Finally, after two years of trial and error, Christopher understood the Gospel! Well, sort of. There were still so many things he didn’t understand, but he knew he wanted to follow Jesus and wanted his friends to do it too. There were two he had in mind , a young Deaf man named Suffian and his girlfriend Shleysha, but he was a Muslim and she a Hindu and for over a year they wanted nothing to do with Jesus.
Or so it seemed.
Right at about this time, the Renew team was in the final stages of helping develop a Gospel film in a special Deaf art form, Visual Vernacular (VV). Visual Vernacular combines gestures and acting to explain complex concepts and stories. And the amazing thing is that it isn’t a specific sign language—it has the ability to transcend language barriers. While there are over 350 distinct sign languages in the world, the Gospel film in VV can be understood regardless of someone’s language.
We had heard about Kenny and how he wanted to reach out to the Deaf on his island, who were unreached with the Gospel. Renew sent this new film to Kenny, and then stories began to filter back that shook us. Something started happening on the island, and it was like watching the book of Acts unfold.
Kenny shared the VV Gospel video with the new Deaf believer, Christopher. He was deeply impacted by the film—there were so many things about the Gospel that finally made sense! Not wanting to waste a moment, he went and found his Muslim friend, Suffian, and his girlfriend Shleysha at the food court of a mall. They were still uninterested in Jesus but agreed to see a film.
As Suffian watched the story of the Gospel in VV light up the cell phone screen, his heart started pounding in his chest. He realized this relationship with God that Jesus offered was so different from the religion he’d experienced growing up. Suddenly he was deeply aware of the sin in his life and he longed for the new life that Jesus offered.
Then there was Shleysha. What Suffian didn’t know was that his girlfriend had been in a desperate fight with depression and suicidal thoughts and had hit rock bottom. When she watched the film, she understood what Jesus had done for her and that she could live a life of peace and hope for the future. That night, after resisting the message of Jesus for so long, Suffian and Shleysha chose to follow Jesus.
Then the transformation happened.
In just a few days, Shleysha realized something incredible had taken place. God was talking to her. She could hear His voice inside of her heart! And Suffian was stunned by the feeling of profound peace and presence of God that now resided in his heart.
When asked why they so suddenly decided to follow Jesus, Suffian and Shleysha replied that none of the other gods called out to them to tell them that he loved them and that the God of the Bible is the God of the Deaf. Only Jesus has gone out of His way to reach out to them.
The Deaf believers now totaled three, and they weren’t about to keep this incredible message of Jesus to themselves. Christopher and his two friends set out to find more Deaf people around town and the VV Gospel film lit up phones in shopping centers, restaurants, and bowling alleys. In just a few days, the three became six. Kenny realized he had just seen more people come to Jesus in less than a week than he had in years. He went from having one Deaf disciple to having brand new Deaf Christians show up at his doorstep at all hours of the day. And they came with questions.
“What do I do now?”
“How do I follow Jesus?”
These conversations quickly reached the limits of Kenny’s sign language vocabulary and he messaged Renew with a request. There wasn’t a Bible available in their specific sign language—could more of these VV Bible videos be made to help them grow in God? With the help of an innovation grant and generous donors, Renew assembled a production crew to film sixteen additional Bible stories in the Visual Vernacular Deaf artform. Among them were stories of Genesis, Moses, and David—all the way to Jesus and the book of Acts.
As the film production was wrapping up, our team didn’t want to just send the videos and then wait to hear what happened. We wanted to see for ourselves this incredible story that was unfolding on the island. A small video crew jumped on a plane and captured what happened next.
One of the first days there, the six believers invited some of their Deaf friends to Kenny’s house for a watch party of the new VV book of Acts film. As they watched the story of the Holy Spirit coming in power, suddenly what was on the screen began to happen in the room. Everyone there felt the powerful presence of the Living God. One girl wept for an hour as years of inner wounds were being healed in an instant. Those on the fence about following Jesus made a declaration to give their whole lives to Him. One young man boldly cut a red cord from his wrist that he had worn his whole life, signifying his allegiance to a false god. A few hours later, the group marched to a nearby river and the young man and others were baptized.
Overflowing with joy from what they had just experienced, everyone hit the road to find more Deaf friends. Splitting up two-by-two, each person carried a copy of the Gospel story film on a flash drive for cell phones. At the food court in the mall, one young man watched the film and said he was ready to be baptized. They found another young man seated at a park and the brand new Christians shared their testimonies and showed the VV film. As the sun set that evening, there were three more baptisms in the ocean.
In just over a year, the number of Deaf believers on the island has reached over 30 people. Several of the new believers experienced severe persecution from their families, so Kenny and his family invited them into their home. Kenny recently performed the very first Christian Deaf wedding in the history of the island: the wedding of Suffian and Shleysha.
Jesus truly is the God of the Deaf.
