10/40 Window or The Whole World?

A church in the U.S. has informed one of our missionary families that they will no longer be supporting them as they don't work in the so called' 10/40 window of the world.

(The 10/40 Window is a term coined by Christian missionary strategist Luis Bush in 1990 to refer to those regions of the eastern hemisphere located between 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator, a general area that in 1990 was purported to have the highest level of socioeconomic challenges and least access to the Christian message on the planet.) This church no longer considers Europe to be a mission field.

This is staggering, especially when you consider that the vast majority of Europeans do not attend church, have never been to a church service, and have never heard the Gospel message preached by a Holy Spirit anointed preacher. Europe was Christianized (at times with the edge of a sword) in centuries past but not evangelized. There are still vast areas of Europe that remain unreached by the Gospel. There are tens of thousands of towns and villages that are devoid of any living Christian witness.

While I accept that Luis Bush’s emphasis on the “10/40 window” of the world may have served it’s purpose to draw the attention of the Church to a needy part of the world, as a missions strategy it is unbiblical and irrational.

The bible states; “Go into all the world”. (see Matt. 28:18-20. Mark 13:10) This command refers to evangelism and disciple making, not Christianization. God also expects us to preach this gospel to each successive generations until the Lord returns.

Please do partner with us and all that will proclaim the gospel to the world, but do not neglect other parts of the world just because their ancestors have been Christianized.

Recent events in North Africa and the Middle East have taken the world by surprise. Current happenings are reminiscent of the fall of Communism in Europe in the late 1989. One encouraging thought is that all that has taken place in Egypt and elsewhere occurred nearly overnight. If God can do the politically impossible in a comparatively short time span then surely we can trust Him to do the seemingly spiritually impossible anywhere in Europe! How wonderful and exciting it would be if entire European nations were to be overcome by a spirit of conviction and repentance. "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" Let us ask God for the salvation of Europe.*

Paul

* (Paraphrased from the ECM Update by Vincent Price)