1. Pray that the Lord will lay a burden on several capable individuals willing to train to work with deaf people, who have a real heart to reach out to them.
2. Urge the church ministries council or church board to select a "coordinator of deaf ministry."
3. Invite each person wishing to be part of the program to read Working Together: Deaf & Hearing, by Thompson U. Kay, director of TEAM Ministries to Deaf (available from AdventSource, Lincoln, Nebraska). Become familiar with the tools already prepared to help in deaf ministry.
4. Bring a leader of deaf people or a coordinator of deaf ministry to conduct a deaf ministry workshop in your church.
5. Arrange for those most committed to the ministry to enroll in signing classes. A key to the world of deaf people is the ability to communicate in their language, sign language.
6. Help deaf ministry participants to find and become friends with local deaf persons.
7. Create some "pathways to the church" (local functions that are interpreted or given in sign language), and invite deaf persons to attend.
8. Provide interpreting or captioning for deaf people during an evangelistic series.
9. Make certain that the signing is of good quality when deaf visitors attend, and that there are enough others who sign to help them feel at home socially in the church. A small group for Bible study in sign language may prove very rewarding.
10. Help equip deaf members with tools and training so they can start working for other deaf people. Two new series of signed evangelistic videos, a new series of tracts, and a new series of baptismal lessons have been specially produced for deaf people.