A Deaf church in Kilifi, a coastal town in Kenya, invited Kennedy Oyoo and Peter Maina to share the Gospel at their Sunday service. This church had never seen God’s Word in Kenyan Sign Language (KSL), and had been using written Scriptures in their weekly services.
A Deaf church leader shared with them the following mental picture before their arrival. “When we start sharing the gospel in church, someone will be at the front trying to read God’s Word. Other people would go up to the front to help decipher what the first person is reading. It’s a full-on group effort every time. We are using the simplest English version we could find. But it is an arduous process. In the end, everyone in the church is unsure if they understood the meaning of the passage.”
Sign language is the heart language of a Deaf church
Kennedy and Peter witnessed this firsthand during the visit. They saw the lack of comprehension on everyone’s faces after the passage was read. The leader preached a general story afterwards, and taught from it instead of teaching from the Scripture that was shared.
Then came the guest speaker’s turn. Kennedy was invited up to the front to share the gospel. He signed the story of Creation from memory, taking the congregation through it with dialogue and questions. Everyone participated in the interactive session.
After the dialogue, Kennedy shared a few lessons from the passage about the nature of God and of this world. At the close of the service, many people eagerly waited for their turn to talk to Kennedy and Peter.
“I feel connected to this passage in a new way.”
“I didn’t know the Bible could be this clear!”
“The Bible was finally understandable to me!”
Kennedy and Peter gave out SD cards with the KSL Bible translation on them, telling the church members to focus on the initial set of 32 passages that take its viewers through selected stories from Creation to Christ with the goal of helping people know more about God and His story.
Kennedy said, “As I watched the excitement on the faces of the church leader and the congregation, it just confirmed again my belief that spiritual growth among the Deaf in Kenya is possible! It happens when we have access to God’s Word in our heart language. I believe we are seeing transformation in Kilifi.”
