Faith Comes By Hearing Introduces Deaf Bible App, Expanding Library of Digital Scripture Resources

Ministry provides Gospel outreach to community unable to use their primary resource – Audio Bibles

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Nov. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- If you are the world's leading Audio Bible ministry – with New Testament recordings in over 690 languages – is it strange to produce a Bible app for a group of people that will never hear your work?  Faith Comes By Hearing didn't think so.

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"When I took on the mission to get God's Word to every person, I assumed He meant every person," states Jerry Jackson, founder and president of Faith Comes By Hearing.  "If the Deaf community worldwide were taken as a whole, they would be the fourth largest unreached people group in the world." 

While the actual Deaf population worldwide is often disputed, the World Federation of the Deaf estimates that 70 million deaf people use sign language.  Of the total population, it is estimated that less than 2% have been reached with the Gospel.

When that statistic was brought to Jackson and the rest of the ministry's leadership team, they knew immediately they wanted to be a part of an outreach to those who are not able to utilize their Audio Bibles.  Having recently created their own Bible app – Bible.is – they asked their developers to investigate the possibility of an app for the Deaf community. 

The result is the Deaf Bible.is app.  While also having the text available to read, the app primarily centers on access to video that allows the user to view the Scriptures being signed in their language.  The initial app released utilizes the ASL (American Sign Language) version of the Bible.  However, just like the original Bible.is app, the ministry will add other languages as they become available.  Faith Comes By Hearing is partnering with Deaf Missions, DOOR International and longtime Bible Society partners around the world who are supplying much of the video content to reach this often overlooked people group. 

A common misconception within the hearing community is that there is a single, universal sign language.  To the contrary, there are at least 200 known Deaf languages – with some estimates being twice that size.  Just like spoken languages, sign languages vary from country to country, region to region, or culture to culture.  As an example, Spanish Sign Language is used in northern Spain while Catalan Sign Language is more prevalent in southern Spain.

"Because of this amazing digital technology, we now have a method to reach millions more of the Deaf population," continues Jackson.  "We are excited to have so many great partners lining up to be a part of this project and provide the content that will make this app a powerful outreach globally."

As with all of the ministry's online digital resources, the Deaf Bible.is app is, and will remain, free of charge.   

Faith Comes By Hearing has been in ministry for 40 years and remains committed to bringing God's Word to the world.  They currently have Audio Scripture recordings in 692 languages.  Free access is available through the Digital Bible Platform – comprised of multiple digital points of online access.

SOURCE Faith Comes By Hearing

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