We minister to and represent the South Carolina Baptist Conference of the Deaf, affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention.
Deaf and hard-of-hearing people are a unique, vibrant and active group with their own language and culture. They live in the same way as other hearing people in the majority world. But there is one factor that affects this community in all facets of life: communicating with those who can hear. Deaf people typically communicate and express themselves most effectively in American Sign Language (ASL).
In South Carolina there is a huge need for ministry, pastors of the deaf, interpreters who are fluent in ASL and churches where God’s word is shared in ASL during Sunday school and worship time. At this time, there are only five ministries that conduct services in this manner. Please send an e-mail to missions@scbcd.org to let us know that your church does have deaf members, deaf ministry, or wants some help to start a new deaf ministry. We need to gather data from every South Carolina church in order for us to be able to reach out to those “missing deaf people in action.”
Our 2010 conference is seeking churches and missionaries with deaf ministries to set up exhibits. The conference will be June 11-13. For more information, go to www.scbcd.org or send an e-mail to conference@scbcd.org.
Being in the state of South Carolina for more than 50 years, we have seen the lack of a strong Bible-teaching foundation for deaf people at any age. We hope this conference will become a yearly event so we can instill the love of Christ in their hearts and they can learn to be a light to their community. In the future, we look forward to seeing the fruits of this labor.
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