Two years ago, there was no church-planting movement among the Deaf in Slovenia. The Bible didn’t even exist in Slovenian Sign Language. Before a church could be planted, Deaf Slovenians needed a Bible translation they could understand. International Mission Board missionaries know how important this is, and much of their focus is on Bible translation for Deaf people groups.

Shortly after the Slovenian Sign Language translation was completed, Deaf Slovenians responded to the gospel and Deaf-led worship and Bible study began.

Ray, a Deaf man who grew up in communist-governed Yugoslavia and moved to Slovenia as an adult, had questions about the faith.

“I kept an imaginary notebook in my back pocket all my life,” he later told his missionary friends. He filled this imaginary notebook with weighty questions like “Who is God?” “What does it really mean to follow Him?” and “What purpose does He have for me?”

But with no Scripture in his heart language, Ray couldn’t find answers.

When he met IMB missionaries who work among the Deaf, he saw the gospel communicated through their hands and faces. Now, he could understand.

The missionaries and their partners from other European countries hosted a Bible translation event. At this event and others like it, people from the local Deaf community were invited to come together to learn, in their heart language, what the Bible says.

“I trust Jesus now! I know Jesus now!” he told the missionaries after a season of Bible study. He pulled out his imaginary question-ridden notebook, pretended to toss it in the air, and signed, “I found the truth!”

Ray’s wife, Rachel, also put her trust in Jesus, as well as their friends, Dasia and Gabor.

Now, they’re not only involved in the Scripture translation project, but all four new believers have been baptized. They gather weekly to share Scripture with other Deaf people. This group is moving to become the first Deaf church in Slovenia.

IMB missionaries among the Deaf are seeing similar response to the gospel, once people understand it in their heart language. They are also witnessing Deaf church planters and Deaf believers taking ownership of reaching Deaf in other cultures. Though different people groups speak different sign languages, many Deaf Christians recognize their unique giftedness to reach others with the gospel.