At Deaflympics In Tokyo, Volunteers Sprint To Share The Gospel
The line into one of the stadiums at Tokyo’s Komazawa Olympic Park stretched out the door and down the street. The crowd waited patiently in the crisp fall air for a chance to watch the volleyball semifinals at Deaflympics, a worldwide event that brings Deaf athletes together to compete every four years.
For Suncica, a Deaf believer from Serbia, the main event was not the volleyball competition taking place inside the stadium, but rather it was the gospel conversation she was having with the couple behind her in line. As they talked, she pulled a card from her bag with an illustration of Mt. Fuji against a sun and five rays of color. She handed the card to the couple.
When they scanned the QR code, a site popped up with short gospel presentations in different sign languages from around the world. As the line inched forward, Suncica continued explaining the gospel using the colors on the card.
Suncica is one of more than 50 volunteers from eight different countries partnering with International Mission Board workers to make connections and share the gospel during Deaflympics. Thousands of Deaf athletes and spectators from more than 80 nations are in Tokyo for the games.
“Deaf people are naturally spread all over the world, and having them come together at one time is a rare event,” said Hank Greene, who leads IMB’s Deaf work around the world. “We really want to take advantage of that to make as many connections as possible, because the gospel flows through those relationships we make in person. It opens doors to areas where we just don’t have access.”
Because Deaflympics events are spread out across Tokyo, volunteers are divided each day into small teams so they can scatter to different sites. Each team includes at least one IMB worker, one hearing volunteer and one Deaf volunteer.
Teams spend the day meeting people in hopes of having gospel conversations. Each team has trading pins to pass out, which were specially designed by IMB worker Kaori James to lead into a simple five-point gospel presentation. They also have cards with digital gospel resources in sign language.
For some of the volunteers, it’s the first time they’ve ever been to a country outside the U.S. or shared the gospel. Liberty Gratz saved up all her personal time off from work in her hometown of Richmond, Virginia, to be able to join Deaflympics outreach. Before she came to Tokyo, she had never left the U.S. or shared the gospel with anyone else.
Though she was initially nervous, early into the week God gave her the chance to share the gospel with someone she was uniquely equipped for. Liberty is Deafblind, so she uses a form of sign language known as Tactile signing where signs are communicated by feeling.
One day, her group noticed a Deafblind man, and encouraged Liberty to go meet him. They began talking and connected through the commonality of their vision loss. Then, Gratz asked if she could share the gospel with him. When he agreed, she took his hands and shared the gospel through Tactile signing. She placed a pin in his hands so he could feel it.
“Wow,” the man exclaimed when she finished. “I’ve never heard that before, I’ve never been able to hear that.”
“It was really inspiring to me to know that he had never heard the gospel before, but I was able to share about who Jesus was,” Gratz said. “I think it’s really important for other Deafblind to know that they can do anything…if they’re believers, they can go and share who Jesus is.”
For other volunteers, Deaflympics outreach has been their introduction to the Deaf community. Though they don’t know sign language or fully understand Deaf culture, that hasn’t stopped God from working through them in powerful ways.
Youngsook Lim came with a few other volunteers from Holy Seed Church, a Southern Baptist church in San Francisco. They didn’t know sign language and had never worked with the Deaf community before, but when they heard about the Deaflympics, they felt led to join the outreach efforts.
One day, Lim’s team went to a basketball game. Lim noticed a Japanese woman enter and sit alone, and Lim decided to go and talk with her. Through Google translate, Lim learned the woman was Deaf and lived several hours outside of Tokyo. She’d come to the game on her own just to support the athletes.
As they talked, Lim was able to share the gospel. Though it was the first time the woman had ever heard of Jesus, she immediately decided to put her faith in Christ. IMB workers are following up to connect her with Japanese Deaf believers.
Months before, other believers had prayer walked the basketball arena, knowing many gospel conversations would take place there this fall during Deaflympics.
“God has been working in so many ways,” said Suncica. “It’s been amazing”
One of the biggest needs for the IMB global Deaf team is to add more long-term missionaries to reach the 80 million Deaf around the world. Opportunities like Deaflympics help short-term volunteers discern long-term callings.
“Some people are curious about working with the Deaf,” Greene said, “and this is a really exciting opportunity for them to participate and engage the Deaf world. We hope to see some of those people return and serve with us.”
In total, outreach teams have shared the gospel more than 200 times and engaged with more than 500 people from more than 30 countries. These numbers will likely rise as the games continue through Nov. 26. This year is the first year that IMB missionaries to the Deaf have done ministry on this scale at the Deaflympics. Greene said he hopes to continue ministry at future Deaflympics games. He said it’s been a great opportunity not only to share the gospel, but to strengthen global partnerships and give volunteers an introduction to Deaf ministry.
“This has allowed us to connect globally with people who have the same heart as we do to see the nations reached,” Greene said. “I’m so thankful for the support we’ve received from our Southern Baptist churches. We see God moving here, and we could not have done this without God providing through you.”
This article has been republished with permission from Baptist Press.
Stella McMillian is a missionary and Baptist Press contributor.