What will it take to reach the 10/40 Window?

3 must-haves for spreading the gospel in the most unreached areas

I remember standing in a small shop in New Delhi, India, talking to the owner about Jesus. “This guru, Jesus, that you speak of, does he live near here?” he asked me. “How can I meet him? Why have I not heard of him before?” His barrage of questions made an inconceivable reality hit home in that moment: The gospel has not yet reached the whole world.

How could it be that a man in one of the largest cities in the world has never heard the name of Jesus?

What will it take to reach the 3.4 billion unreached people around the world?

Nothing less than a unified, fervent commitment from the global body of Christ will allow us to complete the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations — including those in the 10/40 Window.

The church must:

• Take a revolutionary approach to prayer.
• Commit to making the Word of God available.
• Fervently send messengers from all professions.

1. Take a revolutionary approach to prayer.

Missionary Samuel Zwemer (1867-1952), known as the “the Apostle to Islam,” once stated, “The history of missions is the history of answered prayer.” If we are to see the kingdom of God grow among the 10/40 Window, it will be the direct result of a movement of prayer among the church.

We must commit to praying as though a spiritual battle rages — because it does (Ephesians 6:12). It is only through prayer that we can fight the spiritual strongholds of the enemy.

2. Commit to making the Word of God available.

The Bible is God’s message to the world, and the gospel is called the very power of God (Romans 1:16). Why must the church invest in getting the Scriptures into the hands of every people group? Because it is the Word of God that gives birth to transformational faith. The apostle Paul said, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17, ESV).

Only God’s truth can penetrate the darkness. What could be more transformational than the message from God, his written Word, in someone’s heart language?

3. Fervently send messengers from all professions.

Reaching the unreached will also require the messenger, or missionary. For unreached people to respond to the gospel, they must first hear the gospel. And for them to hear the gospel, someone must tell them. And for there to be a messenger, someone must send them.

Perhaps you’ll say that the countries in the 10/40 Window do not allow missionaries, and you’re right. But has not God raised up men and women of faith in other professions who would be welcomed by these countries? The Western church is full of potential messengers in education, business, healthcare, the arts, and the trades, who have a heart for disciple-making but who have never considered taking their profession to the nations for the sake of the gospel.

We must think differently about who to send and mobilize the whole body of Christ. If we do, imagine how many more messengers we could send and how many more unreached people they could reach.

Did my business friend in New Delhi trust in Christ because he heard the good news that day? I don’t know. But I do know he had access to the message and a messenger because of the fervent prayers of the saints. The rest is between him and God.

Mark Silvers served with Crossworld in the Philippines for 10 years and joined the Recruitment team in 2009. Mark’s driving passion is to reach the 3.4 billion people in the world today with no access to the gospel.

This article is submitted by Crossworld. Crossworld is a Missio Nexus member.  Member organizations can provide content to the Missio Nexus website. See how by clicking here.