Deaf Ministry in Omaha started on March 1, 1903. The first worship service was held at the old First Lutheran Church at 28th and Parker. That church was later destroyed by a tornado in 1913. Then they worshipped at Immanuel Lutheran Church at 60th Avenue and Military Avenue until 1938. When the Deaf congregation purchased two lots on Lake Street in January 1930, it was incorporated under the name
Bethlehem Deaf Lutheran Congregation. The new church building and parsonage were dedicated on February 20, 1938. Since then, the church building, as well as the parsonage, have seen improvement and repair. Today, the church building continues in good stead and the renovation of the beautiful sanctuary is finished. We thank God for His gift of a beautiful church in which we can gather together to worship Him. Bethlehem Deaf and Bethany Lutheran Church have shared a special history: Bethany worshipped at Bethlehem, mother congregation of Bethany, from 1938 to 1948. In 1948, Bethany finished building their new church building at 5151 NW Radial Hwy, and they remain Bethlehem’s neighbor. Bethany has recently become associated with St. Paul Lutheran Church, and they are working together with Bethlehem Deaf to spread God’s Word to the Deaf community in Omaha and hopefully soon again to other cities in the state of Nebraska. Seventy years of service to God, the world, the community, and the membership is worthy of praise. But it could not have been achieved without the prayers God answered, the faith in Jesus that God gave us, the sweat and the tears of a host of God’s people – some now departed to their heavenly resting place; many more still laboring in the vineyard. We thank God for all those people, named and unnamed, given to us to help us carry out His great commission, as Matthew 28 says: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded to you.”
We thank God, our Maker and Redeemer, that He has blessed and supported us here at Bethlehem Deaf for these past 70 years. We glorify God as He continues to show His love for all people through us here at Bethlehem Deaf. We praise God because he continues to bless us with new friends and new opportunities to spread His Word. We invite you to join us each Sunday in worship to receive the wonderful gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation from God our Father, and to give thanks and praise to our God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We pray that God bless you this day and every day.
