Letter from the President
As you read this, more than one million believers throughout the Global South have—or will soon have—access to their own copy of the Bible through Crossway’s One Million Bibles Initiative. The Global South is home to some of the fastest-growing Christian demographics in the world, but despite this recent growth, it remains desperately in need of Bibles. That’s why in 2022, Crossway launched the One Million Bibles Initiative in an effort to provide Christians in need with their own copy of God’s Word. The Lord has provided generously for this initiative, and by his grace, I am thrilled to report that we have reached our goal, as donors have now supported the printing and distribution of over one million ESV Bibles to more than 80 countries. Our prayer is that each of these Bibles will equip believers and the global church to worship God in Spirit and truth.
Beyond the distribution of ESV Bibles, over this past year Crossway also provided gospel-centered books to believers in great need at little to no cost. This took the form of a couple key efforts, including the distribution of Global Pastors Book Sets and the translation of Crossway books into other languages.
Each of these projects serve as a testament to God’s grace in proclaiming the gospel to the world. Thank you for your generosity and support of the distribution of Crossway resources. We rejoice in the opportunity to partner with you in this mission to spread the good news.
“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’”
ROMANS 10:14–15
Josh Dennis, CEO, Crossway
One Million Bibles Initiative
By the Numbers 8
Bible Distribution Map 10
Stories of Impact—Bibles for Women, Pastors, and Children
1. Why the Gospel Is Reviving Displaced Peoples Camps in Nigeria 16
2. The Essential Tool That Many Pastors Don’t Have 24
3. Transformative Treasures: How Children’s Bibles Revolutionize Faith for Kids and Parents 32
Other Ministry Projects 40
Contact Information 42
315,008
ESV OUTREACH BIBLES
1,004,671
Bibles funded
180,104
ESV CHURCH BIBLES
155,312
ESV CONCISE STUDY BIBLES
199,695
ESV GLOBAL STUDY BIBLES
37,848
ESV HOLY BIBLE FOR KIDS
29,232
ESV LARGE PRINT VALUE THINLINE BIBLES
28,668
ESV KIDS BIBLES
25,012
ESV WOMEN’S STUDY BIBLES
19,008
ESV FOLLOWING JESUS BIBLES
14,784
ESV STUDENT STUDY BIBLES
$2.63
Average Cost per Bible*
*This number represents the average cost per Bible. Manufacturing and shipping costs varied between editions.
10,112
Donor partners
$2,990,359.88 given to the initiative of donated funds were used for printing and distributing Bibles 100%
80+ Countries impacted
163 Distribution partners
Bibles Distributed in Over 80 Countries
Andaman/Nicobar I
Angola
Antigua
Bahamas
Belize
Bhutan
Botswana
Brazil
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Colombia
Congo
Costa Rica
Cote d l’Ivoire
(Ivory Coast)
Cuba
Djibouti
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
Eswatini
Ethiopia
Fiji
Ghana
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hong
India
Kong
Indonesia
Iraq
Jamaica
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Mauritius
Mexico
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nepal
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Peru
Philippines
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Sierra Leone
Solomon Islands
South Africa
South Sudan
Sri Lanka
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Sudan
Swaziland
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad & Tobago
Tuvala
Uganda
United Arab
Emirates
Vanuatu
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Stories of Impact
BIBLES FOR WOMEN, PASTORS, AND CHILDREN
BIBLES for WOMEN
MEN AND WOMEN play a critical role in the life of the church, such as worshipping together with one voice and using their gifts to build up the body of Christ. They both rely on Scripture as their source of life and faith and yet, we’ve learned from ministry partners that many Christian women around the world—especially in the Global South—lack access to God’s Word.
This impacts not only their personal faith but also their ability to disciple others. In the spring of 2024, donors to the One Million Bibles Initiative supported the distribution of 25,012 ESV Women’s Study Bibles to women in 9 countries: Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, India, South Africa, Philippines, and Zambia. Additionally, women have
1.
received other ESV Bibles from further distributions supported by this initiative. By God’s grace and the power of the Spirit, we believe that many thousands of women are being impacted who, in turn, are impacting others in their homes and communities!
Why the Gospel Is Reviving Displaced Peoples Camps in Nigeria
Support the Need Around the World
Standing on the roadside, I heard screaming coming from across the road. Its sources were out of sight, but the panic was palpable. My heart sank because even though I wanted to do something, I couldn’t. I didn’t know the specifics of what was happening, but I knew the yells accompanying the screams signified another attack. This happens often here in Nigeria and the reasons vary. Soon enough, the screams died away. It wasn’t until the next morning that I heard the whole family, children included, was brought out of their home and killed. The only person who survived from that home was the man of the house. He had been out drinking all night, and by the time he came home at midnight, he had no family. His wife had been left at home by herself to care for the children. Most of the men are not physically present, so it’s the women interacting with the children.
Women in many of these kinds of situations don’t even have a Bible. How can a woman teach her family the truth of God’s Word if she doesn’t have access to the Bible?
VICTOR ALABI, Grace Gardens Literature Coordinator, Nigeria
It’s hard to be a Christian in Nigeria, and it’s especially hard to be a Christian woman. The need is great for God’s Word in a place where pain and poverty are the norm but where hope flourishes nonetheless. Our faithful ministry partners at Grace Gardens see this suffering that oftentimes falls most heavily on Christian women. This is why, as part of the One Million Bibles Initiative, Crossway committed to providing Bibles to those in desperate need, including women.
Being a Christian Is Not for the Faint of Heart
On paper, Nigeria’s largest religion is Christianity.1 However, the daily reality is that Christians are under significant pressure and persecution, especially in the northern part of the country. Missy, founder of Grace Gardens, explained that several years ago, in their city of Jos, “a suicide bomber hit a different church every Sunday in our city for six months. Every church now has a blockade set up during every service because they’re scared this will happen again. The churches look like prisons.” These Christians regularly fear for their safety.
Not only do they fear for their safety, but they also fear hunger for themselves and their families. Hunger has often pushed Christians to choose between buying a Bible or buying food for their families for one to two weeks.
Missy shared that she and her team see this especially in internally displaced person (IDP) camps.
Christians are the last in line everywhere, even at the food distributions. Once in a while, the government will do food distributions at the IDP camps, but they make sure the Muslims who are affected get food first. So in some IDP camps, especially in the northern part of the country, we literally have people starving to death.
These IDP camps are filled with women and children whose husbands have been killed or left and never returned, forcing their families into levels of suffering and poverty that are beyond anything we in the US experience or see. That’s why the Grace Gardens team finds this place primed for the distribution of God’s Word.
“The More I Get to Know Her, the More I Get to Know Christ”
Those in the IDP camps often come with very few possessions. Though they all are forced by different circumstances to move into the camp, Victor Alabi explains a common thread he has seen in his distribution efforts:
The reality for these people is that the Bibles we’re giving aren’t actually their “first” Bibles. Most of them lost their previous Bible during an attack. When they run away they are forced to leave their Bibles behind. Sometimes these attacks happen not just once but twice or even more times than that. They keep on losing their Bibles, so the gift of a Bible means a lot to them.
Crossway has supplied Grace Gardens with Bibles through the One Million Bibles Initiative to be given to people like these who are forced to live in difficult conditions. These are places with little hope, but Victor has seen how the gift of a Bible can bring unspeakable joy.
When we get to the field and hand a Bible to someone in need, you can see their whole countenance change. First of all, you see the expectation since they see you coming with a truckload of Bibles. They can become anxious and may even tell themselves, “I’m not going to get a Bible.” And others have told me they thought, “Maybe I’ll get one.” But all of a sudden, a Bible is placed in their hands and that’s when their whole countenance changes. It is a feeling that I can’t really explain.
Victor, though he grew up in a Christian home, didn’t trust Christ as Lord and Savior until his final year of college. During his college years, God provided a Christian woman who befriended him and faithfully shared the gospel. He came to faith through this sister of whom he said, “the more I got to know her, the more I got to know Christ.”
The gift of a Bible not only allows those who receive it to read God’s Word for themselves but also to share it with those in their spheres of influence. The Word of God is filled with wisdom, guidance, and teaching that women can draw on to share with their growing children who may not otherwise have access to a formal
Not only do they fear for their safety, but they also fear hunger for themselves and their families. Hunger has often pushed Christians to choose between buying a Bible or buying food for their families for one to two weeks.
education. Kyauta Maigadi, through her work with Grace Gardens, knows firsthand the blessing of receiving a study Bible and the gift it is to her fellow sisters in Christ.
I personally have used the ESV Global Study Bible and it was really impactful to me—it helped me in my understanding of the Bible itself. We have seen that when we do Bible distributions, the women are so appreciative of the Bibles. You can see the joy on their faces in those moments. They’re the ones who are most appreciative of the Bibles because they know their value. I know that any woman I give a Bible to, I’m providing a great gift because I know how much of a gift it has been to me.
The Spirit is alive and active in the lives of believers, and through the gift of God’s Word, we can know more of who God is and who we are. We can then live like Christ, influencing our friends, children, spouses, coworkers, neighbors, and others. As the people in our lives get to know us, they can get to know Christ. This is the power of God’s Word.
1. “Nigeria,” Countries, Joshua Project, accessed February 23, 2024, https://joshuaproject.net/countries/NI.
Prayer Requests
• Pray for the Lord’s presence in the Bible distributions happening through Grace Gardens. Pray that these Bibles would be given into the hands of women and other believers in desperate need of the good news.
• Pray for God to help the Grace Gardens team maintain compassionate and loving care for the work they’re doing and to extend Christ’s love to their fellow believers.
BIBLES for PASTORS
PASTORS IN THE WEST are often equipped with more Bibles than they know what to do with. Their shelves are full of different translations and editions with all kinds of features, but there are pastors in the Global South who can only read a portion of their Bible due to its poor condition, and there are others who don’t have a Bible at all. For pastors who do own a Bible,
many have no access to a commentary or study notes to help them understand and apply the text. The ESV Concise Study Bible and ESV Global Study Bible have proven to be great tools for pastors as they serve their congregations and study God’s Word both for themselves and for preaching and teaching. Throughout the One Million Bibles Initiative, 394,804
2.
study Bibles have been funded for pastors, ministry leaders, and lay believers interested in studying God’s Word more deeply. We trust and pray that the Lord will use these resources to grow church leaders in their faith and to guide them as they share the good news with others!
The Essential Tool That Many Pastors Don’t Have
Not All Pastors Have the Tools to Build a Sermon
Imagine your pastor settling down in his office chair, maybe with a cup of coffee, to begin preparing for next Sunday’s sermon. On his computer he has a blank document ready to be filled; to his left, he’s opened his preferred Bible translation with additional versions on his monitor. On his right, a stack of commentaries rest.
As he begins to work on this Sunday’s passage, he realizes he forgot to grab his study Bible—one of his most helpful tools for understanding a text. So he pushes back his chair and heads over to his bookshelf full of an array of Bibles, textbooks from his seminary days, and dense theology books. He pulls out his study Bible and then grabs an extra book or two while he’s there. He returns to his alreadyfilled desk and places all these additional resources on top. He sits down again to begin his sermon, surrounded by books, Bibles, and other resources that provide him with an incredible toolset as he works to understand and teach God’s Word.
Now imagine a pastor in rural South Africa. As he prepares for his own sermon, he’s not sitting in a study or library, but rather, he is at home in his living room, sitting in front of an old TV with a remote in hand. He clicks through the channels and finds a pastor preaching the prosperity gospel. The sermon on the TV isn’t on a particular Bible text, but rather about faith and God’s provision. As he begins to outline his sermon, he paraphrases a few memorable points from the TV preacher and adds a few thoughts of his own based on what he has heard from other “spiritual” figures and family members growing up. He has an old Bible that he reads occasionally and holds while preaching, but that’s it—no commentaries, no additional translations, and no study Bible. With almost no access to resources or training on how to read and study the Bible, this is the only way he knows how to prepare next Sunday’s sermon.
The scarcity of theological resources, and especially the Bible, is a difficult reality in South Africa that Pastor Trent Eayrs, from Durban, describes.
Pastors will gravitate toward watching TV and emulate what they hear. And most of what they hear in areas like this is not doctrinally sound, probably something quite syncretistic. This means they will try to blend preachers on TV with African traditional religion and with some measure or flavor of Christianity. They try and squeeze the two together and the result is a watering down of the gospel.
Without their own copy of the Bible, or perhaps the tools to study it if they do own one, many pastors risk confused, ineffective, or even heretical preaching to their congregations. For many pastors, not only has no one ever explained how essential it is to center their ministry on God’s Word, but few can easily afford to purchase their own copy. Bibles are expensive in many parts of the Global South, and acquiring an edition with interpretive commentary—like a good study Bible— is next to impossible for many due to the expense. Yet, a study Bible is one of the most effective tools a pastor can own, both in spurring on his personal growth as well as aiding him in faithfully shepherding his congregation.
The Tool to Dig into the Word
It is essential that every pastor build his life, relationships, and personal faith on God’s Word, but Scripture can be difficult to interpret at times. A study Bible in the hands of a pastor will help him delve deeper into God’s Word more than he would have been able to on his own.
Pastor Athi Mgqibulo, from Johannesburg, South Africa, shared how the ESV Global Study Bible has transformed both his personal understanding of Scripture and his ability to guide his congregation well.
I’ve realized that I’m actually just superficial in some sense. I’m not digging into passages. I’m not getting the core, the authorial intent of the passage. I just took a verse and I ran with it [when I was] in university, but in coming across the ESV Global Study Bible, it has been my number one tool in preparing. . . .
It has been helpful for my own soul to understand the Bible better, to understand Christ better, to feed my own soul and heart because some passages you become stuck on and it discourages you from
continuing even your own Bible reading. But with this [study Bible], it helps it be smooth for my own soul, but also for my ability to shepherd people better with the Word of God and be more faithful. I really have been grateful for that.
When a pastor who otherwise could not afford a study Bible is provided with one, he now has access to a sound resource that will help him dig deeper into God’s Word. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, a study Bible has the potential to transform the lives of pastors and churches, just like Athi and his flock.
Filling the Tool Box
Through the Lord’s provision and the partnership of donors from all over the world in the One Million Bibles Initiative, we have been able to distribute 201,044 study Bibles thus far to pastors, ministry leaders, and lay believers who otherwise may not have been able to afford one. These study Bibles are meeting a desperate need shared by pastors and churches in the Global South. Pastor Dilip Chetty from Johannesburg, South Africa, helped distribute study Bibles provided through the One Million Bibles Initiative. He shared that “it is the most exciting experience to see a pastor so hungry for a study Bible that sometimes
It is essential that all pastors build their life, relationships, and personal faith on God’s Word, but Scripture can be difficult to interpret at times. A good study Bible in the hands of a pastor will help him delve deeper into God’s Word more than he would have been able to on his own.
tears would drop from their eyes as you take a study Bible and you put it into his hand. And now he has the resources to go into his church and make such a transformational change.”
Praise the Lord for the incredible, life-altering work that he is doing to provide the tools for pastors to aid them in faithfully leading their congregations. We also praise God for all the thousands of partners and donors who have joined with us in prayer and supported the One Million Bibles Initiative. While we have reached our goal of funding the printing and distribution of one million Bibles, this work of resourcing the global church is both vital and urgent, so with God’s provision and ongoing donor support, Crossway will continue to provide Bibles to the Global South so that all may hear of Jesus and his saving power.
Prayer Requests
• Please pray for the shipping and distribution of the remaining 193,760 ESV Global Study Bibles, that they will arrive safely and cause transformational change in the lives of the recipients.
• Pray that these study Bibles will grow pastors and strengthen the church for God’s kingdom.
BIBLES for CHILDREN
“ONE GENERATION SHALL COMMEND YOUR WORKS TO ANOTHER, AND SHALL DECLARE YOUR MIGHTY ACTS.” — Psalm 145:4
We’re called to declare the good news to the next generation and what better way to do that than through the provision of God’s Word? In the spring of 2023, donors
to the One Million Bibles Initiative supported the distribution of 100,308 Bibles to children. (See the breakdown of the Bible editions distributed on page 11.)
We believe that God’s Word can change young hearts, and we’re committed to investing in the next generation of church leaders and members!
Transformative Treasures: How Children’s Bibles Revolutionize Faith for Kids and Parents
Bibles Lead to Entire Family’s Spiritual Transformation
More than 30,000 children throughout Awana programs in Africa brought home a Bible one night. For many of the families of these children, having a Bible in the home was a brand new thing and a blessing to the whole family. Not only do the children receiving these Bibles read them, but the parents often end up reading them too.
Benard Litwachi, Awana Regional Director for East Africa, recognizes what this means. As a native Kenyan who has served with Awana in various roles for more than 25 years, he knows the need isn’t just among children but for whole families. For those homes who claim to be Christian, “there is a very high possibility that out of 10 homes I would visit, maybe only one would have a Bible. The average family consists of about five to seven members, parents together with the children.” So when a Bible is brought home, the parents and other family members in the home pay attention. For those who believe, we know the power of God’s Word and what the Spirit can do through reading it (Rom. 10:17).
By God’s grace, through the One Million Bibles Initiative, more than 100,000 children’s Bibles have been distributed at no cost to students throughout the Global South. Through the Lord’s abundant grace and power, we also know that each Bible distributed can, and often does, mean transformation in more lives than the 100,000 recipients. This transformation includes thousands of parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, and others we may never know about on this side of Heaven. Bibles are fostering spiritual growth in a multitude of lives as they make their way into Awana programs throughout Africa.
Our Normal Isn’t Their Normal
When you walk into an Awana program in a church in the United States, you’re likely to find no shortage of Bibles. Many children come with their own Bible or, if they forget one, the Awana program makes sure they have a full-text Bible to use for that night—and even to take home with them if they don’t have one. This is what most of us would consider normal. Yet Awana Northern Michigan Field Director Scott Conner learned that our “normal” isn’t normal in African Awana programs. He visited Kenya and Rwanda during two of these recent children’s Bible distribution events. “If you [ask a class] of 200–300 kids to read a passage of Scripture, you would have to look around to figure out that there’s one Bible way over there, and there’s one in the opposite corner. Why did I think that everybody had a Bible? They don’t. The kids do not have Bibles. And so they’re learning Scripture and they’re memorizing it, but they don’t have their own copy.”
Scott isn’t likely the only one whose first instinct would be to think that the children attending the Awana program have Bibles. After all, how does a child learn God’s Word if they don’t have a copy of it to read from? Despite the lack of Bibles, brothers and sisters in Christ want to pass on the good news to the next generation. Sometimes this means the teachers are forced to teach orally, for the kids to copy down, rather than reading the words from the Bible themselves. Men, women, and children alike have the desire for God’s Word, but as Benard explains, not the means to get it for themselves.
In our African context, if you ask someone to buy a Bible, they will probably say to you, “It is not a priority for me right now. Yes, it is important, but it’s not a priority because I’ve got mouths to feed, school fees to take care of, house rental fees, and other needs. So as much as I would like to have a Bible, I can’t.” A good Bible, like the ones that Crossway has provided to us, is almost 3,000 Kenyan shillings. We have Bibles that cost 500 shillings and still people cannot afford to buy those Bibles. Now, can we imagine a Bible that goes for about 3,000 shillings? Nobody would even dream of buying that Bible.
I’ve gone to many countries on this continent, and every place I go to and enter a church on a Sunday, the pastor asks the congregation to open their Bibles. But I look around, and I can count on one hand how many people have Bibles.
Due to the staggering cost of Bibles and the need to afford living essentials, children throughout Kenya and the continent of Africa don’t have a Bible of their own to read. But when they are given their own Bible, spiritual transformation is taking place.
Tangible Change
In Awana programs alone, more than 30,000 Bibles have been given to help address the need for God’s Word that Benard identifies. Though it’s not a total solution to the problem, by God’s grace, each Bible is reaching those in need and impacting the hearts of children and their families. Even on distribution day, Scott saw the immediate impact of the Bibles.
Our kids were passing out Bibles to all the grade levels and there was a tangible excitement in the air as we did so. It was so much fun to be a part of that and to see their love for God’s Word as they received it. After the distribution took place, the students went back to their classrooms. As I was walking by some of the classrooms, I could hear the students reading different passages out loud and pointing to these stories that they had heard their teachers share with them orally. But now they get to have their own Bible and read it for themselves.
When people have the opportunity to read God’s Word for themselves, the Spirit often softens hearts to receive the gospel. As the next generation is brought up, they also need to have the opportunity to hear God’s Word. By the power of God
Due to the staggering cost of Bibles and the need to afford living essentials, children throughout Kenya and the continent of Africa don’t have a Bible of their own to read.
working though his written Word, he’s transforming more lives beyond the ones who receive the Bible. As Benard dreamt about the impact of the thousands of Bibles going out across Kenya and Africa at large, he reflected on this question: “Can you imagine the transformation that the Lord may cause to take place in those households where the Bibles are going? That’s how important this initiative is. It’s not just about placing the Bible in the hands of a child. Go beyond that and imagine—when that Bible gets into the home, God can bring transformation when the Word is being shared in that family.”
By his grace, the Lord has allowed more than one million Bibles to be distributed throughout the Global South to areas of great need. We know Jesus has a special place in his heart for children, which is why 100,000 of these one million Bibles were specifically given to kids like those in the Awana Kenya programs. The need is still great, and by faith, we trust that the Lord is bringing about spiritual transformation, even right now.
Thank you to those who prayed for and supported the One Million Bibles Initiative! Your gift is going toward the furthering of God’s Kingdom, one life at a time.
Prayer Requests
• Pray for the more than 100,000 children who received ESV children’s Bibles through the One Million Bibles Initiative. Pray that the Lord would bring spiritual transformation to them and their families.
• Praise God for the work of Awana Africa. Pray for the Lord’s hand of protection and support over Benard and thousands of other staff members and volunteers who are taking God’s Word to the next generation.
Other Global Ministry Resources Distributed by Year
Excluding Bibles distributed through the One Million Bibles Initiative
Total Countries Resourced
Supplying Ministry Leaders with Theological Libraries
GLOBAL PASTORS BOOK SETS
The Crossway Global Pastors Book Set includes a collection of Crossway titles and an ESV Global Study Bible. These resources have been hand-selected to support the work of pastors who serve in areas around the world where it’s especially challenging to receive theological training. This year alone we’ve been able to provide more than 12,000 pastors with these mini-libraries.
Investing in the Global Church
GLOBAL MINISTRY FUND
Projects in the Khmer, Hausa, Yoruba, and Marathi languages represent a few of the 35 projects initiated this year for translation and publication. While there are many English speakers around the world, we recognize there is a desperate need for local language resources. Crossway’s Global Ministry team regularly connects with other Christian publishers around the world to provide high-quality theological resources in local languages.
How Can I help?
Donate
You can partner with us financially to resource more pastors, church leaders, and Christian laypeople around the world.
When you give to Crossway, 100% of your donation supports the process of providing biblically sound resources to believers in need around the world.
There are a number of options for partnering with Crossway through your giving:
• Online: crossway.org/donate
• Mail: 1300 Crescent St., Wheaton, IL 60187
• Call Customer Service: 1 (630) 682-4300
• Email: giving@crossway.org
• Give gifts of stock, other securities, or via wire transfer
• Give to the Global Ministry Fund crossway.org/donate/global-ministry-fund
Connect
To learn about the ministry projects happening at Crossway, please sign up for the Global Ministry newsletter at: crossway.org/global-newsletter.
Deliver
You can help transport resources to your mission field:
1. Fill out a brief survey (crossway.org/gmsurvey), which we will use to contact you about any available resources.
2. Tell us where you are engaged in global missions (countries/languages).
3. Find out what resources you can transport to your mission field.
You can also provide the gift of a free ESV app subscription to believers you know living and serving in any country, outside of the US, UK, Canada, or Australia. This subscription provides free access to resources like commentaries, study Bibles, audio Bibles, reading plans, and more. To sign up or share the link with those who qualify, visit esv.org/international
Pray
You can partner alongside other believers each month in prayer over these projects.
Email us at globalministry@crossway.org to learn more.