Love God, Love Others,

Love One Another

Marvella Sellers

DEAFCHURCH FIRST COAST

Marva Sellers has been approved as a church-planting curate by the Gulf Atlantic Diocese of the Anglican Church in North America.

We have been laying the groundwork for this day for several years. Actually, it was about 20 years ago when in my first conversation with Marva, I asked her where she sensed God was leading her. Her immediate reply was "I want to be a pastor of a Deaf Church!"

Marva moved to St. Augustine in late June, 2025 for this purpose. She has settled and worked to build her support network as well as make new friends in the Deaf Community. She has completed five seminary classes at Gordon-Conwell in their masters program.

Marva is now working on building her part in the funding structure. Please consider becoming one of her partners in ministry through your prayers and donations. All funding for Marva is through Christ The King Anglican in St. Augustine. There is a link above for online giving or if you prefer to donate to the DeafChurch First Coast by check, make it out to Christ The King Anglican with "DeafChurch" in memo line and send to: PO Box 1657, St Augustine, FL 32085 

See below for a video of the first outreach event of DCFC! The ad shows the details and Marva is explaining in ASL about the importance of finding "safe places" for sharing, growing, trusting, and you might even discover deeper meaning through God's grace.

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW FOR AN UPCOMING DEAFCAFE GATHERING

As many of you know, Kathy and I founded Deaf Teen Quest (DTQ) in 2000. The ministry continues to thrive in YFCUSA. From the beginning of our ministry with youth and young adults, Kathy and I have always invested heavily in recruiting and developing excellence in ministry leaders, especially those who are Deaf/HH.

Marva Sellers is one of those high-potential leaders. Kathy and I are honored to have supervised her, served beside her, and seen her love for Jesus in action with great potential for impacting a whole generation. I am providing direct support for her in my role as a missioner priest.

In 2015, as part of my doctoral program, I brought together a dozen outstanding Deaf/HH ministry leaders who focused primarily on ministry with youth and young adults. This research ultimately resulted in the establishment of this DeafChurch planting movement. I posted a picture of this research group in the last newsletter and Marva was part of this "think-tank" of high-potential leaders.

Below is a photo of a Classic Christianity Cohort that I led over the past couple of years. In January, we were able to get together in person. We took a deep dive into the Lord's Prayer ("Belonging to Christ"), Apostles Creed ("Believing in Christ"), and the Ten Commandments ("Becoming like Christ"). At the end of our time together, I asked them to consider pairing up to leading cohorts using this model with whatever scriptural content they felt led to use.

My intention is to start another online Classic Christianity Cohort and also lead a cohort in person in St. Augustine. Thanks for your prayers.

An in-person gathering of an online Classic Christianity Cohort in January 2026

DeafChurch First Coast is the first church plant of DeafChurch Together hosted by Christ The King Anglican Church in St. Augustine with the mission support of other "Anchor" churches in the Gulf Atlantic Diocese and the Anglican Church in North America. Widespread support is an essential element of creating a sustainable Deaf Church.

Click below to learn more about the vision of DeafChurch Together.

Click below for an online liturgy in ASL following the BCP2019 lectionary.

To donate to the national mission, select DeafChurch Together from menu.