“With This, Women Can Impact the World”: How the Bible Changes Everything

The Church Can Thrive, Even in the Face of Persecution

India—the Joshua Project categorizes this country as “unreached.” The percentage of evangelicals is unknown. Hinduism dominates the religious landscape with more than one billion adherents.¹ They are ranked eleventh on the 2024 World Watch List of countries where Christians are experiencing the most persecution.² With these statistics and the reality that faces Christians in India, it seems that this may not be a place where Christianity could thrive. But despite the threats and realities of religious persecution, the church in India is growing.

An Indian Christian leader recently shared that the desire for the truth in his country is stronger than ever: “India is hungry for Bibles, even in the midst of opposition and a hostile environment. People are asking many questions, and they are looking for answers in the Bible.” Many of these people looking for answers and flocking to church gatherings are women. But there’s one problem: many of them don’t have a Bible. If they did, it would have a great impact.

Crossway, through the One Million Bibles Initiative, is seeking to provide Bibles to believers in need throughout the Global South. Many of those who need a Bible of their own are women living in places like India, where access to the Bible is limited but the hunger for it is evident. Would you consider giving a gift toward this initiative in our goal of supporting an additional 50,000 Bibles by May 12? Every $4 you give will support one Bible, contributing to our overall goal of providing one million Bibles to believers who may not have access to a Bible of their own.

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Many Christian women around the world—especially in the Global South—lack access to God's Word. A $4 gift will give a Bible to a sister or brother in need of God’s Word. Would you partner with us? Learn More.

The Word of God Is the Key

Madhavi and Sirisha will graduate in May from a small, local Bible college in India. As Christian women, they know and experience firsthand the challenges of living out their faith in a hostile country where women face crippling inequalities. “It’s very hard for me to be a Christian here,” Sirisha confessed, “because we face inequality in education and employment. People judge Indian women so easily for many things.” But that hasn’t stopped either her or Madhavi from pursuing their dreams. Both have dreams and aspirations of pursuing full-time ministry upon graduation from Bible college later this spring. These are two examples of many women throughout India who are seeking to know the truth of the gospel. Even though they confess it’s hard, Madhavi and Sirisha show the perseverance of female believers to learn and know the truth and then to share it with others. Madhavi shares that

Women are treated poorly, especially in areas of life like religion and marriage. We have to follow what our fathers and mothers follow, and for me growing up that was Hinduism. But by God’s grace, many of those who came to know Jesus, especially women, have brought the good news to others and now they’re Christians. I’m thankful to be just one example of that: now there are others in my family who have come to know Jesus too.

On fire for the Lord, believers—men and women alike—are eager to share the gospel. But sharing the gospel is made much more difficult without access to a Bible. Madhavi guessed that “most of the church in India, I think made up of somewhere around 70% women, don’t have a Bible due to poverty and a lack of education. For others, they must keep their faith a secret, so they can’t have a Bible.” Without access to God’s Word, these believers aren’t learning from the written truth or growing in their understanding of who God is. This is especially problematic as they face challenging questions from non-believing family members and friends. When Sirisha received her Bible, her faith grew much stronger as she became better equipped to provide reason for her faith (1 Pet. 3:15).

Reading my Bible daily, I have come to a better understanding of Scripture. I’m growing much more in my relationship with God after receiving a Bible. Some of my favorite verses are Proverbs 3:5–6 which tell us, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” I used to depend on my own opinions and ideas, but after I started reading God’s Word, I came to understand and listen to how God speaks to me through his Word. Now I know I can depend on him and ask him anything through studying the Bible.

Sirisha now has access to God’s Word, and it is changing both her life and the lives of those around her. She has confidence to share the good news with a fuller understanding of what she’s reading, since she gets to now read for herself. When brothers and sisters in Christ have access to God’s Word, it brings light to the darkness, hope for the hopeless, and strong spiritual growth—access to the good news is changing the world, one Bible at a time.

You Can Make an Impact Too

Men and women alike need access to the Word of God, which is why Crossway is partnering with ministries throughout the Global South to provide one million copies of the ESV Bible to believers in need. Women are a large part of this need, as Madhavi and Sirisha prove. Who knows what the impact might be when more women are provided with a copy of God’s Word to read for themselves? As a woman, Sirisha is confident that she too can make an impact even greater than what she understands now. “Women can influence people of all kinds, including children at home, with the truth of the Bible. In turn, those children are equipped with the good news—and women too can impact the world.”

Would you consider partnering with us today by giving the gift of a Bible so that the world can be impacted with the truth?

Pray for Sirisha and Madhavi as they embark on a new season of ministry after graduation this spring. Pray for the Spirit to sustain them as they proclaim the gospel.

Pray for the believers in India as reports of persecution increase and that the gospel will continue to go forth despite hostility.