On Friday, Feb. 27, students in Trinity's American Sign Language class had a guest speaker visit their classroom to talk about ASL in the LCMS church. However, the classroom was silent.
That's because the speaker, Kaye Wolff—an advocate with the Lutheran Women in Mission's Deaf Ministry Outreach Program—was communicating with the fifth- and sixth-grade students in sign language.
In fall 2025, Trinity began offering electives to students in grades 5–8. A list of elective options was sent to students and their parents over the summer, including topics such as German, robotics, home skills, home maintenance, cards and games, Visual Faith and ASL. Students and their parents ranked the electives, and based on those rankings and classroom availability, students were assigned to elective classes, which meet on Fridays throughout the school year. Some are taught by Trinity teachers, while others are taught by members of the staff or people from the community.
Since the beginning of the semester, students in the ASL elective have been working with retired Trinity teacher Joanne Brown to learn the language and practice communicating and even "singing" in sign language. On Wednesday, Feb. 26, the group performed the song "Our God Is an Awesome God" during chapel. Then they put their skills to use communicating with Wolff when she visited their class two days later.
Wolff talked to the students about the Church Interpreter Training Academy (CITA), which trains Lutherans in American Sign Language interpretation for the Divine Service so members of the Deaf community can participate in worship and have access to the Gospel of Jesus. While many interpreters are available, very few have the skills to sign God's Word accurately and completely. That's where CITA comes in.
The organization provides training in Bible studies, religious sign vocabulary and liturgical interpretation. This work includes translating the Lutheran Service Book into ASL. The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) funds grants that allow CITA to hold workshops each year. One is scheduled for March 14–15, 2026, at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Dearborn.
According to CITA, nearly 96 percent of the Deaf community is unchurched. Workshops like this help bring the Word of God to people in their own language, but it begins with training. In addition to learning more about ASL, participants also grow in their understanding of Lutheran theology and worship as they learn how to interpret it.
After discussing ways sign language can be used in the church, Wolff and the students again grew silent. While there wasn't much talking, there was still plenty of communication. Wolff and the students used ASL to talk about themselves and their families. To help students learn new words, Wolff used a website that demonstrated each sign. The activity and conversations showed the students that they have the skills to communicate not only in the classroom, but also in the church.
ASL Elective 2026
