10/40 Window

Go into all the world and make disciples... Because Jesus told us to do this we believe that missions should be in the DNA of every church! God's heartbeat is that all people would hear the gospel and we are participating in fulfilling this directive in the following way: 

The 10/40 Window

Most of the people groups still unreached by the gospel live in places stretching across the maps of northern Africa and Asia. Christian missions strategist Luis Bush started calling this rectangular area or band: "the 10/40 window." He used that easy-to-remember name because it lies across Africa and Asia from 10 degrees latitude north of the equator to 40 degrees latitude north of the equator.

Here are some daunting statistics about the 10/40 window that should concern every Christian:

• Of the 55 least evangelized countries in the world 97% of their population lives within the 10/40 window.
• Only 1.25% of giving to Christian missions is going to work in the 10/40 window, which means that most of these people will never hear the gospel in their lifetime.
• There are fewer missionaries deployed in the 10/40 window than any other part of the globe.
• Two-thirds of the world's population (3.2 billion people) live in the 10/40 window.
• 95% of the people living there are unevangelized.
• 84% of the world's poorest people live in the 10/40 window.
• Diseases that have long had cures run rampant there.
• Three of the world's major religions dominate the 10/40 window. These are the numbers of unreached people in each religion: Muslims (865 million), Hindus (550 million) and Buddhists (275 million).
• The most unreached mega-cities are located in the 10/40 window.
• Not every country in the 10/40 window is friendly toward missionaries and are openly resistant to the gospel.

So what do we do about this? It is obvious that Satan has a stronghold on this part of the world. I would suggest that every Christian should do several things about this:

• First, everyone should be educated about what is happening in this part of the world.
• Second, everyone should elevate their thinking about fulfilling the Great Commission and reaching that part of the world.
• Third, we should enable ourselves to participate in reaching that part of the world through prayer, giving, and going.
• Fourth, we should encourage the missionaries we know in the 10/40 window by praying for them, sending them letters of encouragement, giving them resources, and so forth.

We can't sit still and do nothing because we are unaware or filled with apathy! God's heart is that He desires that nobody perish but that everyone comes to a knowledge of repentance and receive Jesus Christ into their hearts (2 Pet 3:9). I'm hoping that all of us at Parkside Bible Church will share God's heart in reaching out to people in the 10/40 window with the gospel.