Think of the pastors, sermons, and Bible studies that have most impacted you.  Now imagine never having heard them. Where would you be today?

In recent years, East Asia has experienced explosive church growth, with more than one million new believers annually. But pastors lack access to high-quality theological resources and preaching materials that can help them produce biblically-sound churches and spiritually mature Christians.

This leaves churches vulnerable to false teaching. “Christianity in East Asia is a mile wide and an inch deep,” one former missionary explained.

Religious persecution, financial constraints, and language barriers prevent most national pastors in East Asia from accessing even some of the most basic tools for sermon preparation that we find so readily in the West. Seeing this need, one ABWE missionary started asking, “How can we use technology to help persecuted pastors be better equipped?”

The free online Bible Study Toolbox was built to provide national pastors and ministry leaders in East Asia with crucial resources, like Bible translations, Hebrew and Greek concordances, sermon outlines for every Bible passage, and commentaries by writers like John MacArthur, A.T. Robertson, and James Montgomery Boice—all translated into their own language and available online at no cost to them.

Although only recently launched, the initial version of the Bible Study Toolbox already has over 1,000 users. Plans for a mobile friendly version will greatly increase accessibility for the roughly 80 percent of East Asians who depend on smartphones for their Internet access.

A pastor in East Asia commenting on the significance of the Bible Study Toolbox said, 

“We have come to realize the fact that only when the hermeneutics and biblical commentaries are right, can we expect healthy spiritual lives of pastors, and then [have] an empowered church built on a solid foundation.”

Just as the use of new technology in the form of the printing press sparked the Reformation 500 years ago, a completed Bible Study Toolbox has the potential to impact generations and equip a body of believers who are passionate about sending their own missionaries to other countries.