Deaf community now have their own Hope Channel

Adventist television service will offer sign language, captioned programming worldwide

Posted December 2, 2016

By Adventist Record/Adventist Review staff

The Deaf community around the world now have their own Hope Channel.

Launched Dec. 1, the dedicated online channel contains a variety of Adventist video productions, including features such as Tell the World, the Sabbath School Mission Spotlight, episodes of It Is Written Oceania and Church events such as the 2015 General Conference session presentations.

The video-on-demand programs are signed or captioned in ASL, English, Portuguese, Spanish, French and German, across four categories: nature, family, Bible and health.

“It is a historical milestone in the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s ministry to have a channel with, for and by the Deaf,”

“It is a historical milestone in the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s ministry to have a channel with, for and by the Deaf,” said Pastor Larry Evans, who cares for the Deaf and Special Needs Ministries at the General Conference. “It is almost unbelievable that this moment has come.”

Notably, the channel is operated by Deaf church members, ensuring that its content is especially geared towards the interests and needs of the Deaf. According to Evans, “The content manager who will be working with me and a committee made-up of Deaf, is herself deaf.We expect the global deaf to have the major voice regarding programming.”

Evans said there is a significant opportunity for an Adventist broadcast ministry to those with hearing challenges. “The World Health Organization estimates there are 70 million deaf in the world or about 300 million who are either deaf or who have a significant hearing loss. Another organization estimates that of the 70 million only 2-4 percent are Christian,” he said.

Those numbers “firmly place that demographic at the top of the list of ‘tongues and people’ yet to be reached with the gospel,” said Lee Dunstan, manager of Christian Services for the Blind and Hearing Impaired, the Church’s service to the Deaf in the South Pacific Division.

Sabbath, Dec. 3, is the International Day of Persons With Disabilities, with the theme for 2016 being “Achieving 17 Goals for the Future We Want”.

Hope Channel — Deaf can be accessed at: www.hopechanneldeaf.org.

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