Like other language minority groups, many Deaf and hard-of-hearing people congregate in a church setting for spiritual and fellowship reasons. Generations ago, Deaf and hard of hearing people who attended Deaf residential schools usually had some type of church exposure, usually on Sunday mornings or Sunday
afternoons, when a minister or priest came to the school campus. Others attended hearing churches, without having an interpreter, with family members.
Deaf worship services, where the dominant language is ASL, sometimes adapt liturgy (a prescribed format for worship) to better suit congregations. For instance, contemporary praise services popularize the worship service with music, whereas some Deaf congregations may give less emphasis to music and more to
drama, an extension of ASL storytelling. Because ASL is a visual and spatial language, it is not unusual for Deaf worship services to include dramas more frequently than hearing worship services do, perhaps during Scripture readings or as sermon illustrations. A number of Deaf congregations incorporate a drum during a song
that is being signed so that vibrations ripple through the worship space, a cultural practice that may be somewhat annoying or distracting for hearing people but enhances the experience for Deaf worshipers.
