Opening the 10/40 Window
The core of the unreached people of our world live in a rectangular-shaped window! Often called "The Resistant Belt," the window extends from West Africa to East Asia, from ten degrees north to forty degrees north of the equator. If we are serious about providing a valid opportunity for every person to experience the truth and saving power of Jesus Christ, we cannot ignore the compelling reality of The 10/40 Window regions and its billions of impoverished souls.
The 10/40 Window confronts us with seven important realities: first, the historical and biblical significance; second, the least evangelized countries; third, the dominance of the three religious blocks; fourth, the preponderance of the poor; fifth, the unreached ethnolinguistic people groups; sixth, the least evangelized megacities; and seventh, the strongholds of Satan within the The 10/40 Window.
Historical Significance
Why do committed Christians need to focus on The 10/40 Window? First, because of the historical and biblical significance of this part of the world. Indeed the Bible begins with the account of Adam and Eve placed by God in the heart of what is now The 10/40 Window. God's plan expressed in Genesis 1:26 was that mankind would have dominion over the earth, subduing it fully. However, Adam and Eve sinned against God and forfeited their right to rule. Later, in man’s sinful rebellion, came the futile attempt to establish new dominion in the building of the great Tower of Babel. That effort, which also occurred in the center of The 10/40 Window, was an open defiance against God. Once again, as God had done in the flood, He reached forth His hand in judgment. The result was the introduction of different languages, the scattering of the earth’s people, and the formation of nations.
Ancient history was worked out in the territory marked by The 10/40 Window from the cradle of civilization in Mesopotamia across the Fertile Crescent to Egypt. Ancient empires came and went. The fate of God's people Israel rose and fell depending on their obedience to the covenant with their God. It was here that Christ was born, lived a perfect life, died sacrificially on the cross, and rose triumphantly over death. The church age was ushered in, and it was not until the second missionary journey of the apostle Paul toward the end of the biblical record that events of biblical history occurred outside of the territory identified as The 10/40 Window. Without question, this is an area of great historical and biblical importance.
Unevangelized Peoples
The second reason why committed Christians should focus on the 10/40 Window is because it is home to the majority of unevangelized people. The "unevangelized" are people who have minimal to no knowledge of the gospel and have had no valid opportunity to respond to it.
While it only constitutes one-third of the earth’s total land area, nearly two-thirds of the people in the world reside in The 10/40 Window. More astonishing is the fact that 97 percent of all the world’s unevangelized peoples live in The 10/40 Window. This leaves no doubt that the challenge of reaching the unreached must center on the core - The 10/40 Window.
If we take seriously the mandate to preach the gospel to every person, to make disciples of all peoples, and to be Christ’s witnesses to the ends of the earth, we must recognize the priority of concentrating our efforts on The 10/40 Window. No other area is so blatantly in need of the truth that salvation is only in Jesus Christ.
The Heart of Religions
A third reason we must focus on The 10/40 Window is that it is the heart of three of our worlds major religious blocks. The majority of those enslaved by Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism live within The 10/40 Window. The Muslim world, of over 700 million people, stretches in a wide band across the north of Africa to the middle east and even has some significant presence all throughout Asia. The middle of The 10/40 Window is overshadowed by the subcontinent of India and its over 700 million adherents to Hinduism. In Asia Buddhism dominates the lives of the people.
From its center in The 10/40 Window, Islam is reaching out energetically to all parts of the globe; in a similar strategy, we must penetrate the heart of Islam with the liberating truth of the gospel. We must do all in our power to show Muslims that the highest prophet described in the Koran is not Mohammed, but Jesus. And that He is not only the greatest prophet, but the Son of God Himself who died and was resurrected in order that millions of Muslims might be saved.
Overwhelmed by poverty and ravaged by disease, India is victimized more severely by the spiritual blindness of Hinduism. To a nation in which fatted cows roam freely among emaciated humans, we must proclaim the truth that Jesus came to give us life and give it abundantly.
With all of Southeast Asia, most of China and the Far East falling into the category of Buddhist, it is easy to see that this is the largest, most identifiable group in The 10/40 Window. The Buddhist world comprises more than 1 billion people who are in desperate need of Jesus Christ..
The World's Poor
The fourth reason to focus our attention on The 10/40 Window is that the poor are there. In fact, more than eight out of ten of the poorest of the poor--who on the average have a gross national product of under $500 per person per year live in The 10/40 Window. Although 2.4 billion of these people live within The 10/40 Window, only 8% of all missionaries work among them.
In the book Target Earth, Bryant L. Myers of World Vision and MARC wrote and article titled "Where Are the Poor and Lost?" Myers suggested that "the poor are lost, and the lost are poor." He arrived at this conclusion after observing that the majority of the unreached live in the poorest countries of the world.
When Christians gathered from 170 countries at Lausanne II in Manila in 1989, great concern was expressed for the materially poor of the world. In the second section of the Manila Manifesto, that concern was recorded with the following declaration: "We have again been confronted with Luke's emphasis that the Gospel is the Good News for the poor (Luke 4:18, 6:20, 7:22) and have asked ourselves what this means to the majority of the world's population who are destitute, suffering and oppressed. We have been reminded that the law, the prophets, and the wisdom books and the teaching and ministry of Jesus, all stress God's concern for the materially poor and our consequent duty to defend and care for them."
Committed Christians cannot ignore the reality that there is a remarkable overlap between the poorest countries of the world and the least evangelized countries of the world. In fact, 79 percent of the people who are poorest are also in the least evangelized countries of the world.
Megapeoples
The fifth reason we must address our concerns on The 10/40 Window is because it contains the largest spiritually bankrupt ethnolinguistic megapeoples (over one million). Over 90% of these people groups live in The 10/40 Window. To reach these people for Christ is often an infinitely more difficult task than that of smaller tribal groups. Some of these megagroups without Christ number in the tens of millions and comprise a foreboding, yet God-sized challenge to the Church.
Megacities
The sixth reason we must focus on The 10/40 Window is that it contains the overwhelming majority of the world’s least evangelized megacities—that is, those with a population of more than one million. Of the top 50 cities on this list, all 50 are in The 10/40 Window! This fact alone underscores the need for prioritizing our efforts to reach these great metroplexes with Christ’s love and truth.
Stronghold of Satan
Why do committed Christians need to focus on The 10/40 Window? Because it includes numerous strong-holds of Satan. The billions of people living in The 10/40 Window have suffered not only the ravages of poverty and disease, they have also been kept from the transforming power of the gospel. They are poignant examples of the truth expressed in 2 Corinthians 4:4, which states, "the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
We must not view this situation with a fatalistic attitude, for we have been granted power to intervene. In the same letter, the Apostle Paul declares, "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:3-4). Although Satan has established a territorial stronghold in The 10/40 Window, we must not concede one parcel of land nor one person. The gospel must advance!
In the fascinating passage of Daniel 10, we see the reality of territorial spiritual warfare unveiled. The angel who visited Daniel announced that he would have to return to battle the Prince of Persia. Apparently that battle and others like it still rage. Persia of old is Iran of today, and sits in the center of The 10/40 Window, still a stronghold of Satan.
It is evident that the forces of Satan have great power and will resist all attempts to be overcome. If we are to storm the enemy’s territory, we must put on the full armor of God and fight with the weapons of spiritual warfare described in Ephesians 6. To depend on anything else is utter foolishness.
All of this demands that we reevaluate our priorities. We must find the most innovative ways to reach the billions of people within The 10/40 Window with the love and truth of Jesus Christ. We must mobilize for a massive prayer focus on The 10/40 window with the body of Christ worldwide.
If we are to be faithful to Scripture, obedient to the mandate of Christ, unwavering in our commitment to plant churches within every people group by the year 2000, then we must get down to the core of the unreached—The 10/40 Window.
May God grant each of us boldness and wisdom and energy to do our part in taking on this great and eternally significant challenge! (Luis Bush)