RICHMOND, Va. (BP) — Only 2% of an estimated 80 million deaf people alive today have ever been told the gospel in their sign language, with at least 380 sign languages in use globally, according to ministry leaders.

The International Mission Board (IMB) and Wycliff Bible Translators are among more than 95 organizations and churches collaborating globally to change the dismal statistic.

Since an April 2023 meeting representing more than 170 deaf leaders and 49 countries Eurasia, IMB and Wycliff have collaborated with others to begin Bible story translations in more than 75 new sign languages, said Andy Keener, Wycliff’s senior director of global partnerships.

The new work means Bible stories are available in more than 100 sign languages globally.

“Our goal is to address all of those sign languages in that Eurasia meeting and make sure that there’s nobody there that doesn’t have a project in progress. What that means for us is first finding those partners,” Keener said. “And then you’ve got years and years of journeying with them.

“The Bible has over 31,000 verses. Our ultimate goal is to see all of God’s Word, the whole counsel of God, in every language that needs it everywhere.”

While IMB actively shares the gospel through deaf missionaries in the field, it also participates in translation ministry, said Victor Hou, IMB associate vice president for global engagement and interim affinity group leader for IMB deaf affinity work.

“For over a decade, IMB has recognized the importance of sign roots (a visual-spatial foundation of sign language) as a common framework for sign language,” Hou told Baptist Press, “and saw the potential to use sign roots to accelerate Bible translation into over 300 mostly Bibleless sign languages.”

Through a partnership forged in 2020 with Brentwood Baptist Church in Nashville, the church and entity formed Deaf Pathways, thereby using sign roots as a common framework to accelerate the translation efforts.

The partnership has led to the translation of 189 Bible story passages in 20 various sign languages available on the Deaf Pathway Bible App, Hou said, including 26 Bible stories in Mexico Sign Language and 30 Bible stories in Czech Sign Language.

“Local believers are using these passages to share the gospel and communicate the love of God so deaf peoples can know God,” Hou said. “This is only the beginning as we continue to translate the Bible into 300 sign languages so 80 million deaf can know the gospel and follow Christ.

“At the IMB, our desires and prayers are for these 80 million deaf to know the gospel so they can be saved by faith in Christ and for healthy churches to be planted among deaf believers worshipping in their heart languages,” Hou said. “Our teams share the gospel with local deaf in the cities where they serve, disciple local deaf believers in God’s Word, and train deaf national believers in many countries around the world to do the same – communicate the gospel and disciple new believers.

“We do this when we meet deaf peoples in person, and using digital tools such as the Deaf Pathway Bible App.”

While only 50 of the languages in Eurasia were represented in the 2023 meeting, Keener said leaders there were able to collaborate to design work to reach other languages in the region.

“It’s really just a matter of building the relationships, listening well, and then developing projects that address those needs,” Keener said.

The greatest need for deaf Bible translation is likely in India and China, Keener said, with 28 known sign languages in India and more than a dozen in China. Most countries only have one to three, and many were developed from American Sign Language, the only language that has a full Bible translation.

“In the vast majority of the world, deaf people do not read and write their own language,” Keener said. “Even in the U.S., with the strides that we’ve made with deaf education, there are a lot of deaf people that struggle to read and write English.”

Leaders left the Eurasia meeting with a goal of starting a Bible story translation in every language represented within the next three years, by mid-2026, which would still only be the beginning of the work.

Keener likened it to the New York City marathon.

“It takes like 20 or30 minutes to get the last person to cross the start line. There is a mass of people trying to run a marathon, so it takes a while just to get to the start line. Once everybody crosses the start line, well now we’re all in the marathon.

“Our big goal for the last 25 years,” he said, “has been by the end of 2025, is to have no language in the world that needs language translation be waiting to start. Get everybody to the starting line by the end of 2025, and that includes all these sign languages.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Diana Chandler is Baptist Press’ senior writer.)