ASL Congregation formed for Deaf in Central Florida

3301 SOUTH APOPKA VINELAND ROAD, FL. – Jan. 22, 2025 – An American Sign Language (ASL) congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been formed to serve the Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals throughout Lake County and Central Florida. The first worship service started on January 19th at 1 pm at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints located at 3001 South Apopka Vineland Road, Orlando, Florida and all visitors are welcome.

The unique opportunity to gather and worship with other members of the Deaf community has been in development for years. Because of challenges with communication, many of these individuals have been underutilized or overlooked by traditional outreach efforts. “We are excited to announce this incredible blessing to our community,” said Elder Daniel Amato, an Area Seventy church leader serving Central and Southern Florida. “We invite members of the Deaf and hard of-hearing community and their friends to join us on this special day. After years of faithful service, we can finally enjoy the growth that belonging to a congregation brings by strengthening each other in fellowship and service as we worship Jesus Christ.” The Sunday worship service has sermons focused on The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, including prayers, singing, and testimonies. Second hour is a traditional Sunday school classroom study of the scriptures. In this new congregation the full two hours of meetings will be held in American Sign Language.

The Church has 22 ASL congregations throughout the United States and Florida will now have three. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ estimates that 34 million Americans have a significant hearing loss. Of these, almost 6 million are profoundly deaf. There are more than 800,000 deaf or hard of-hearing individuals in Florida. ASL is the third most commonly used language in the United States.