Evangelism in 10/40 Window
The 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Its name comes from its position between 10 and 40 degrees north latitude. Mission strategist Luis Bush and his wife, Doris, were looking for a way to illustrate the need and opportunity for people to hear about Jesus for the first time.
Two-thirds of the world's population which is more than 4.4 billion people that live in the 10/40 Window and 90% of these people are unevangelized. Many have never heard the Gospel message even once.
The statistics of the numbers of non-Christians can be staggering [ fate of the unevangelized ]
- 65 million unreached Muslims or followers of Islam in 3330 cultural sub-groupings
- 550 million unreached Hindus in 1660 cultural sub-groups
- 148 million unreached Chinese in 445 groups
- 275 million unreached Buddhists in 900 groups
- 2550 unreached tribal groups (which are mainly animistic) with a total population of 140 million
- Forming a smaller -- though important -- unreached group are the 17 million Jews scattered across 134 countries
- Good news: Researcher David Barrett says the country which has experienced the most rapid Christian expansion ever is China which in modern times has sometimes seen 10,000 new converts daily.
Critical Mission in 10/40 Window
The statistics from that 10/40 Window can be staggering. Two-thirds of all people on earth live in that rectangular area. Almost all of the world's 55 least-evangelized countries are in the 10/40 Window. Half of the world's least-evangelized large cities are in the 10/40 Window. The majority of the world's Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs live in the 10/40 Window. Sadly, the 10/40 Window is also home to 8 out of 10 of the poorest of the earth's poor.
Many areas in the 10/40 Window are places that Nazarene World Mission director Verne Ward describes as "where the Church is not yet." With just 10% of the current global Christian missionary force deployed there, that situation is not changing very rapidly. Unfortunately, almost 9 out of 10 of the people living in the 10/40 Window today remain outside the reach of current evangelistic efforts.
In several 10/40 Window countries Christians suffer physical persecution and even death for their faith. Due to anti-Christianity hostility and stringent government restrictions, many missionaries in the 10/40 Window have become creative in how they evangelize and disciple people. Many of the countries will not give visas to religious workers. So they have been labeled Creative Access areas. For these and other reasons, Patrick Johnstone has called this area the "resistant belt."
The 4 Commands of the Great Commission
The poors and forgotten ones.
Before Jesus ascended to Heaven, He left the church one Great Commission: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation”.
We can clearly see the commands of the Great Commission as found in Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:15-18, everything tsrats with an action "Go" and the consecutive actions are the fruits. In the Great Commission, Jesus commands us to:
1. Preach the gospel to all nations and people
2. Work miracles in Jesus’ name to testify to the gospel
3. Baptize new believers, and
4. Disciple those who receive Christ.
For the success of world missions we need everyone: goers (preachers, teachers and professional of other services),
senders or givers, prayer fighters.
Let us share with the world God’s hope and peace we have!
Remember the poors and forgotten ones. Because God cares a lot about them (the infortunate one). Let us not forget.
Lord and Savior Jesus
Shocking Statistics
1. According to Barna, “Almost half of [practicing Christian] Millennials (47%) agree at least somewhat that it is wrong to share one’s personal beliefs with someone of a different faith in hopes that they will one day share the same faith.
2. 41.6% of the world’s people groups have little or no exposure to the gospel
3. From the 41.6% around 97% of these live in a region called the 10/40 Window
4. Only 10% of the current global Christian missionary force deployed the 10/40 Window.