Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Revelation 2:7 (NIV)
Talking to God comes quite naturally for me as I ramble on about all manner of topics – both important and trivial. On the other hand, hearing God’s voice is a daily challenge – mostly because I am easily distracted and I do not always take intentional time to tune in and really listen.
Thankfully, I am coming to understand how silence can be a gift. Perhaps the still, small voice of God can only truly be heard within the realm of silence – and maybe even more so in times of ‘painful silence’.
Jesus challenged people around him about the importance of spiritual hearing. Through teachings and parables, he warned his audience to listen with ‘ears to hear’. This admonishment continues to echo throughout history to all people, across all cultures and generations: Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear! Let them listen to me, understand and obey!’
While it is true that most people are born with the privilege of physical ears to hear, having the spiritual ears to hear is another matter. It is when we intentionally attune our ears to the voice of Jesus that we begin to hear him speak to us in ways that change us and positively affect the world around us.
Friends, it is vital in these challenging days to offer our obedient attention to Jesus’ life-giving words, and to listen like our lives depend upon it – because they really do!
For reflection: Is there a way you could make more space in your schedule to silently attune your spiritual ears to listen to the voice of Jesus?
Be transformed by the Word as you engage with: John 10:1-18 and Psalm 85
Prayer: Father, I confess I don’t always look after my spiritual ears to hear your eternal words of life. Please help me make any necessary changes so I can understand more fully, and experience the joy of obeying your voice. Amen.
My family are all hearing people but I am Deaf. So it was really difficult when I was growing up. They were all talking but there was no signing. My mother would communicate with me through my sister as she couldn’t communicate well with me. Schooling was also really difficult. I missed a lot because I was trying to follow orally. I was bullied at school, which got me feeling down and depressed.
When I was younger, I went to the synagogue (I came from a Jewish family). We’d learn to write in Hebrew but there were no other Deaf people there, and no interpreter. When I learnt stories in Auslan about famous characters from the Old Testament, it helped me understand the pictures I had been shown as a child. Then when I was about 15 or 16, I had thoughts about God. Who is God? Where is he?
When I was 19, I had a Deaf boyfriend who was an amazing signer. He introduced my family to simple finger spelling and basic communication. He was also the Christian who led me to Jesus. I learnt more about the Bible from him and I was struck by the words in Revelation 3:20 – that Jesus invites everyone to join him. Everyone. Including Deaf.
I learnt how to teach Auslan at Latrobe University. Then I taught it at my old church for 20 years and many people’s skills improved. I’ve been at my current church for five years now and teaching some Auslan there too. There are plenty of Deaf people in the area but I don’t know how to encourage them to come to church.
I used to lead Bible studies where we would watch some Auslan Bible translations together. I really like to have written text alongside the Auslan translation but written English is very different from Auslan. Having Auslan interpretations in church makes the message so much easier to understand. — Susan Shannon
If you’re looking for a sign language project to support people like Susan with resources in sign language, the Solomon Islands Deaf Community Assistance is developing educational resources such as training videos, printed materials and a mobile phone application to be used to support the delivery of sign language education. Visit https://wrdf.org.au/pacific/solomons-deaf-community-assistance/
An exciting project is about to be launched to provide Deaf Christians with tools to grow in their faith and reach other Deaf people with the gospel. Wycliffe Australia, Bible Society of Australia and Alpha Australia have been close partners in creating a translation of the Alpha course into Auslan – Australian Sign Language.
Rebecca Thurrowgood (right) signing for the Alpha videos in Auslan.
Rebecca Thurrowgood is a Wycliffe Australia member who has been coordinating the Auslan translation. The collaboration with Alpha and Bible Society was especially meaningful to her as it enabled various skills, experience, connections and resources to come together to fulfil a growing need within the Deaf Church.
Rebecca’s parents are both committed followers of Christ, yet they have found that, as Deaf people, their ability to fully engage in the life of the Church has always been a struggle. Although work is underway for a translation of the Bible into Auslan, the translation of Scripture is only in its early stages and there is currently a lack of Scripture engagement and outreach tools to reach the Deaf in Australia. Rebecca shares:
At the end of 2023, Bible Society was chatting to me about what things we could do for the Deaf community in regards to translation. I mentioned that my dad had said he’d really love a translation of the Alpha series. Wycliffe Bible Translators Australia, Bible Society Australia and Alpha Australia met to discuss how this could work and, after just 45 minutes, we were all keen to get started.
The first goal of the Auslan Alpha project was to provide resources to help Deaf Christians to grow in their faith and understanding of Scripture. A second but just as important goal was to equip Deaf people to reach out to others. Rebecca explains:
The Deaf Church hasn’t really reached the next generation. Just like a lot of [hearing] churches in Australia, we have an ageing Church. We want to ensure that we’re not starting from scratch in ten years’ time. At the moment, the Deaf community in Australia is an unreached people group, essentially. We want to change that.
A professional studio has been set up at the Wycliffe Australia National Office in Kangaroo Ground and that space was used to film the Auslan Alpha videos in September 2024. Rebecca says that all of the interpreters they brought in were Christians who had a deep affinity with Alpha and a desire to reach Deaf audiences with the gospel. One of the interpreters was on set filming when she mentioned that she had offered to run the Alpha course in her church. The Auslan Alpha resources had not yet been finished but she really wanted to test them out and see how much interest there was. Rebecca recalls:
The translator told me: ‘I only have 10 weeks this year that I can run an Alpha course. When I told some Deaf friends about it, they were happy to come along. She later messaged me, saying, ‘There are five Deaf people who don’t yet know Jesus coming to the Alpha course! I’ve got eight people turning up and a church has offered to host it for us.’
The Auslan Alpha team presented at the Australian Deaf Christian Network conference in January and Rebecca says they were given permission to start promoting the upcoming Alpha series:
Around 60 Deaf people were in the audience. When they saw the preview of the Auslan Alpha videos, they were so excited. One of the ladies got up, and she cried, ‘I have been praying for years that there would be Alpha for the Deaf. God just answered my prayers.’
Rebecca is still beaming since the project has started wrapping up. She says:
I think the biggest challenge with this project was that none of us had ever done anything like it before. But God made it happen. It is always beautiful to see organisations coming together and partnering in a vision.
That question is easy to answer for Skip Smith, Church Engagement Lead with Alpha Australia. Skip explains that the Alpha translation into Auslan is a key evangelistic resource that is intended to help equip Deaf Christians to reach others with the good news of Christ. Skip has been working with Alpha for six years and has a heart for finding ways of providing support for Deaf Christians. He shares:
We all long for connection. Deaf people are no different. My wife and I were leading a church in Brisbane when one Deaf couple started attending. Other Deaf Christians heard how they were welcomed into the church and that number started growing. Soon we ended up with 50 people in the congregation who were Deaf. We started realising how desperately ill-equipped the Church was for meeting the needs of Auslan speakers. I really felt the Lord put it on my heart to make space for the Deaf community. So we dedicated space for them in church and had interpretation services available every week. Then I started learning conversational Auslan. I would learn to sign just by being with the Deaf community. I became passionate about helping them to access the Word of God – access that so many of us take for granted.
So how does Alpha come into the picture? Skip explains:
Alpha is ‘a series of interactive sessions that explore life, faith and meaning … a resource churches use to create a space and a culture where people are excited to invite their friends into a conversation about Jesus.’ A few weeks into my role, I began speaking with my Deaf friends and going ‘Hey, there’s this thing called Alpha. Have you heard of it? How could Alpha and Auslan work together?’ I have a friend who is the pastor of a Deaf church and she seemed interested, but the more I talked with her, I realised how many complexities there were in translating the content. I had a number of conversations but nothing got off the ground. So I said, ‘God, I leave this in your hands’.
A few years later, God started opening doors when Bible Society Australia (BSA) and Wycliffe Australia approached Skip to see how they could support Deaf Christians. Skip says they selected the top eight subjects ‘that would take someone on a journey of faith’, such as ‘Who is Jesus?’ ‘Why did Jesus die?’
There are still seven more Alpha videos to be translated into Auslan, yet Skip says that he sees the partnership between Alpha Australia, BSA and Wycliffe Australia continuing well into the future:
To have these three different mission organisations come together in this way was just absolutely beautiful. We’re working together with a generous, collaborative spirit. But the work isn’t finished yet! I see this as an ongoing partnership. I would love to see Deaf ministries really use these resources for evangelism. My dream is that every single Deaf person in Australia at least be presented with the gospel.
The official launch of the Alpha in Auslan course is planned for July 2025. Please pray with us as trial courses are held and the team prepares for the July launch in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Feedback from an early trial of Alpha in Auslan:
‘I went to a Deaf church once and I couldn’t understand anything they were signing. It was all jargon! I tried to read the Bible but it was in old language and I couldn’t understand much. But this? The [Auslan translation of Alpha] is easy to follow. THIS IS CLEAR! I can understand it and it’s so INTERESTING!’
Amy Cruickshanks is a linguistics consultant with Bible Society Australia who played an integral role in creating the Auslan Alpha translation videos. Along with her desire to see Deaf communities equipped with resources to grow and share their faith, Amy has been part of the team translating the Bible into Auslan. Amy says that, prior to joining the project, she did not have connections with the Deaf community. Yet that all changed once she began learning the language and meeting the people with whom she would come to develop close relationships:
Since I joined the team and started learning Auslan, I feel like my life has changed quite a bit. Now, some of my closest friends are Deaf people and others I have met through the Deaf community. It is also because of Auslan that I joined the church I am currently attending. The church has Auslan interpreting, so I thought I would visit to say hello and see what was happening there. I was really only intending to visit the church once, but the welcome I received that first Sunday was so warm and I was so readily embraced into the group of signers (made up of both Deaf and hearing) that I just kept going back. I’ve been there a year and a half now, and feel I have truly found my church family.
Amy has been with the Auslan translation team for two years now, but notes that the Auslan Bible Project has been underway for almost 30 years. So what are some of the biggest challenges in a signed translation compared to a written or oral translation? Amy shares:
There are a few differences. I think the biggest one is that in Auslan, as in all signed languages, the visual details of objects and events are important and communicated, so these always need to be brought into consideration in translation work. For example, our team was recently translating Psalm 23, and we had a few discussions around the section ‘you anoint my head with oil’. What did that anointing actually look like? Was it just a dab of oil on the forehead or was the oil liberally poured out and running down the face? These sorts of details aren’t something you typically have to consider in spoken language translations.
Along with the challenges, Amy says she finds the Auslan translation work incredibly rewarding:
Being involved in this project has been the biggest gift from God to me. Not only is working with my teammates a joy, but together we have the opportunity to make the Bible more accessible to people who use Auslan as their first language – what could be better than that?
There are currently two full books of the Bible translated into Auslan (John and Acts) and portions of a number of other New and Old Testament books. While there is still a long way to go, Bible Society Australia recently launched a new, updated website for the Auslan Bible so that the Deaf community in Australia can better access what has already been translated. To see the Auslan Bible, visit https://auslan.bible/
Please pray:
that God would continue to guide the Auslan Bible Project committee and the translation team
for those who engage with the Auslan Bible and Alpha in Auslan – that they would grow in their understanding of how great God’s love for them is.
Sign language: a formal language using a system of hand movements for communication (as by the Deaf)
– Merriam Webster Dictionary
It is estimated that there are around 70 million Deaf people in the world today who rely on sign language as their primary means of communication. A common misconception is that cochlear implants and hearing aids are sufficient for enabling Deaf people to understand conversations, yet these devices only help to improve the perception of some sounds. Most Deaf individuals still need sign language to fully engage with and understand conversations. Aside from gaining a clearer understanding of the information being shared, sign language forms a key part of identity, culture and belonging for many Deaf communities.
Unlike spoken languages, sign languages are unique to their geographical locations. There are 280 documented sign languages in the world and anywhere from 138 and 300 different sign languages are being used today. Despite the prevalence of sign language usage, there is still only one complete translation of the Bible in a sign language: American Sign Language (ASL).
Australian Sign Language (Auslan)
Australian sign language, or Auslan, has been in use since the 1800s, yet the Australian Government only recognised it as an official, distinct language in 1991. The first time it has ever been included as a language option in Australia-wide research was in the latest Census (2021). Information from that Census revealed that over 16,000 people use Auslan in the home, but calculations from the Australian Disability Network estimate that the total number of people who speak Auslan is closer to 30,000. Grammar, syntax and concepts are completely different to written English. You will often see a capital ‘D’ in most references to Deaf communities, as it is the preferred way to signify their cultural identity.
Auslan translation and Deaf needs in Australia
there are two completed books of the Bible that have Auslan translations: John and Acts
4% of the Old Testament and 37% of the New Testament has been translated into Auslan
the statistics for deafness increase significantly among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 2019 figures show an alarming
43% occurrence of hearing loss among people aged seven years and older from Indigenous communities.
The International Day of Sign Languages is celebrated on 23 September every year to raise awareness and support for Deaf people throughout the world. What can you do to show your support?
> Educate yourself about the needs surrounding the Deaf community
> Advocate for greater accessibility and resources in Auslan
The Four Seasons gave us the song ‘Silence is golden’. But have you ever wondered what it would be like to lose one of your senses? Renowned 19th and 20th century author and disability advocate, Helen Keller, lost both her sight and her hearing after an illness in her infancy. Despite the incredible hurdles and daily struggles she faced, she was able to attend Harvard University and become the very first deaf-blind person in America to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Yet Helen was acutely aware of her unique position, saying in her autobiography, ‘I owed my success partly to the advantages of my birth and environment. I have learned that the power to rise is not within the reach of everyone’.
Sadly, the majority of Deaf and blind communities still face challenges in their daily lives most of us never encounter, including the ability to access and understand Scripture. At a Wycliffe Australia ‘Mission Possible’ event in Melbourne, Saul and Rebecca Thurrowgood shared about their heart to reach Deaf people with the Bible in a language that speaks to their hearts. Their talk was titled ‘Faith comes by hearing…but what if you’re Deaf?’ and included live sign language interpretations throughout the night. They also shared about the motion capture technology Saul has been creating called Chameleon that is helping to advance the work of Bible translation for Deaf communities.
Rebecca’s parents are both Deaf so she has grown up witnessing firsthand the difficulties they endure. She says that, despite the privileges many in our society have access to, there are still many challenges the Deaf face in Australia and on an international scale:
Attitudes have changed over the years but there is still a stigma attached to deafness. Deaf people aren’t necessarily any more included in services and planning. It takes more intentionality and preparation to truly include Deaf people and provide them with the resources they need. Many Deaf people have other disabilities and deafness has come as a secondary issue. They tend to be abused more because they are more vulnerable.
A 2018 study in America found that the stigma Deaf people face is often a result of the different ways they need to communicate. It determined that ‘the hearing world tends to view being Deaf as a disability … rather than as an identity that also brings opportunity for personal growth and community’ (Mousley and Chaudoir, 2018).
The same attitudes are prevalent among the Deaf in Australia. Rebecca shares:
We often get asked, ‘Well if Deaf people can see, they can read the Bible, right? Why do they need a translation of their own?’ But if we’re talking globally about the Deaf community, we’re talking predominantly about a group of people that don’t get provided with an education in most countries and if they do it’s very minimal. When you don’t have that phonetic input, reading is quite difficult. And it’s not just the words, it’s the way words are put together. But sign language is more than a series of words. It’s a language that expresses culture, identity and belonging.That’s the way I believe God speaks to us. He’s not just a hearing God – he’s also the God of the Deaf. He understands sign language too!
PRAY:
for the Auslan Scripture translations Saul and Rebecca are planning to start in coming months
that a team of Auslan signers can be formed and trained to help with the motion capture being used for Chameleon.
MORE:
Read more about the ways in which Chameleon is being used to translate Scripture and gospel resources for sign languages throughout the world, via the website https://wycliffe.org.au/chameleon.
Have a look at the Christmas video available in Auslan: The Who, What, Why and How of the Christmas story in Auslan!
In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book, and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness. – Isaiah 28:18 (NLT)
Do you remember listening to Bible stories in Sunday School? For many Deaf children, there are very few resources available for them to learn more about God’s love for them. So far, only American Sign Language (ASL) has the full Bible available. Australian Sign Language (Auslan) only has a few books translated and does not have any resources to support Scripture engagement. Wycliffe Bible Translators Australia members Saul and Rebecca Thurrowgood want to change that.
Saul & Rebecca Thurrowgood and their children
The Thurrowgoods have been working in partnership with the Bible Society to create animated Bible stories for children in Auslan. The Christmas story was released at the end of 2022 and an Easter message was recently published. The videos are based on evangelical children’s booklets the Bible Society produced a couple of years ago. They have been created using the motion capture Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool called ‘Chameleon’ which Saul and his team have been refining for the past 10 years ’and which converts the signed movements from a real person to an animated character.
Saul explains:
Last year, the Bible Society wanted to see if they could use Chameleon for translation projects and they came to check it out. We trialled the technology with the Christmas story and were thrilled that it worked so well. The second time around, everything worked even more smoothly with the Easter story. All the characters are consistent throughout the series. It’s been a long time building up but we’re finally seeing fruit from all the years of hard work to get Chameleon off the ground.
Rebecca adds:
A screenshot of the Easter video translated into Auslan.
I’ve been thinking a lot about creating resources for kids to put online to equip the church. These videos are like a seed – the first in a way of creating resources for Deaf children. Auslan has its own linguistic style that is very poetic visually that would not translate the same way in spoken English. These videos provide the stories in a form that kids can easily understand. We have a dream for Deaf community to be able to connect with the gospel. The children’s stories we’ve created using Chameleon so far will hopefully be a good start.
Pray:
for more people to join the team! We need workers highly skilled in programming, computer science, AI, computer vision and robotics
that the Auslan translation of the Easter story can continue to be shared with Deaf children throughout Australia and open their hearts to the love of Jesus
for the languages and countries that have shared an interest in using Chameleon
More: To watch the video, click here. To visit the Chameleon website, click here.
Thanks for your patience...
Waiting is hard, isn't it. But imagine waiting 2000 years for Scripture in your language! Thanks for your patience. And thanks for your generous support which will help bring the long wait to an end...
Thanks for your patience...