No Access: The 10/40 Window

"The issue is not lostness but access to the Gospel." --Xplore (pg. 12)

Most people that have grown up within the church at least have heard about the 10/40 window. The 10/40 window stretches from 10 degrees latitude to 40 degrees latitude encompassing West Africa to East Asia.

Taken from joshuaproject.net 

The thing that separates people that are living in the 10/40 window from people who are not Christians living outside the 10/40 window is access. In the United State, even if you are not a Christian, you could find a Church, a Christian, or a bookstore with the Bible and Christian books. Point being, that you could find about Christianity if you wanted to. But in the countries within the 10/40 window you couldn't even find out about Christianity if you wanted to. You could live your entire life and never meet a Christian.

They have no access. 

Because they have no access, they need missionaries to go there more than any other place in the world. While we need missionaries in every country, many countries at least have access to the Gospel. Around 10% of all missionaries are even going to the unreached. And believe me, 10% is an generous estimate, some believe that it is more around 5%!


On top of that, only 2 cents for every dollar for missions goes to the unreached and 10/40 window. If you thought the wage gap was bad for men to women, look at the wage gap for missionaries going to the unreached!

Why are they unreached? 

I want to clarify a few things first:

1. They are not unreached because of sin. Everyone is separated from God because of sin. That's a human affliction, not a regional one.

2. They are not unreached because they are in places so remote that no one can get there. Most of the people in the 10/40 window live in places you can reach in 72 hours. You could be in Beijing, Tokyo, India, or Egypt in a few days.


The reasons that they remain unreached today are complicated. Many of the places were the origins for various religions. The Middle East gave birth to Islam. Buddhism is from China, Shintoism is from Japan, and Hinduism is from India. Things like Communism (non-religious) and Sharia Law remain barriers in many places, even if they are no longer the Nation's law.

Some of these governments are oppressive to Christians. Others have very negative connotations of foreigners.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. Some places have hostile environments.

The real reason so many places remain unreached. 

 The real reason that so many people have not heard the gospel is because we have chosen not to reach them.

From Gospel Meditations for Missions:

Paul taught us that the essence of mission is going places where Christ is not already named (Romans 16:20--It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not build on someone else’s foundation.) I don’t understand why church planters so frequently ignore the little word not. The mission is not to plant the coolest church in town, but the only church in town. Why target The Bible Belt when so many places don’t even have a Bible? Roughly 35% of the world has no access to the Gospel. I'm not talking about the people in your neighborhood who have never heard "a clear presentation or the Gospel" (but you could if you would just cross the street). I'm talking about the 2,400,000,000 people who couldn't find a church if they tried. How is this possible? How many of our mission workers are even targeting them? I might be satisfied with a proportionate 35%. But get this: it's less than 5%! Tip a waitress 5% and she'll spit in our soup the next time you order lunch. Five measly percent is a yawn in the face of the Great Commissioner, a shrug at the plight of the damned. It's tantamount to telling the unreached to go to Hell.

Forgive my candor, but I don't know how else to verbalize what our inaction is communicating. We're cloistered in climate-controlled cathedrals, feasting while billions can't even find a drop of Water. "We do not well! This is a day of good tidings!" (2 Kings 7:9) Our main problem isn't fear. Certainly we prefer our crosses guilded, not bloody--but there's a bigger issue. Christ is not our life (Philippians 1:21--For to live is Christ and to die is gain). We're self-absorbed. Distracted. Apathetic. Unimpressed at the stunning honor of fulfilling biblical prophecies. Passionate about anything other than harvest fields of unreached souls--unreached not because they're unreachable, but because we've chosen not to reach them.

All of this his leaves me (Kayla) with just one question: What is more important to you: your comfort, money, and friends which are all temporal, or the thousands of people, whom Jesus died for, who are eternal.

Who do you love more: yourself or God? One cannot serve two masters.

 

Christianity in Action: The Dropbox

Of all of the so-called "Christian" films I have watched these past few years, none have captured my heart like The Dropbox.

What makes The Dropbox stand out is that there are no actors, but is film footage of a Church living out what it means to be followers of Christ. No cheesy plots, no stars aligning so that two love interests can find each other.

This film takes place in Seoul, South Korea at a Church called "God's Love." Pastor Lee has built a "baby box" or "baby drop box" on the outside of his house so that unwanted babies would no longer be abandoned on the streets and die.

But Pastor Lee wasn't always passionate about these abandoned children. Like in the U.S., many parents abandon or give up their child for adoption if their child has disabilities. Teen moms find themselves in dire situations. Without the support of their families, Churches, or schools, many do not have any way to care for their children. Talking about the desperate young mothers, Pastor Lee says, "When the [pregnant] girls contact them, every single one is suicidal....Deathly afraid they'll have no support, no help....The young moms say, 'Either way, my life will be over so I want to kill myself and my baby.' So this [drop box] is the only way to save both."

But Pastor Lee's story is amazing in itself. His second son was born with severe physical and mental disabilities. When he first saw his son, he asked why God would give him "that kind of baby." Not even 30 seconds later, his focus in life shifted and he said, "Thank you God for giving me this child." Through his son, he saw the value and dignity of human life.

The Lee's spent the next 14 years living in the hospital and ending up adopting four kids, each with disabilities. When asked about the time, having sold their house to pay for medical bills and living in the hospital, he humbly remarked, "We never faced any major troubles."

Soon after being released from the hospital people started leaving babies at their door. One of the first children was named Hanna. Hanna had encephalopathy was was abandoned by her middle school mom who was also on drugs. Despite all this, Pastor Lee cared for Hanna. After six years, "she was taken to be in heaven" in his own words. Hanna never had the ability to talk or to care for herself, but Pastor Lee heartbreakingly describes her death. Looking back, he saw than every moment he spent caring for her was precious.

After hearing about a baby box in Brazil, Pastor Lee decided to build his own. Children were already being left at his door step. With trembling, he built the tiny box with a pressure activated door-bell. Above the drop box is the verse Psalm 27:10 "Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me." Pastor Lee says,  "I never expected any babies. I prayed, please don't let any babies be abandoned, only if his life is in danger..." But the babies came--over 350 babies had come through the box at the time of the film.

When asked why he does all this, he simply replied, "I can't be here and not do anything about it."


One of Lee's adopted children was interviewed and asked what it was like to live at the house with the drop box. "It is like heaven. Then [the door-bell rings] and it is like heaven is at war."  He continues to describe Pastor Lee's disabled son Eun-man, "I believe God made the baby box because of Eum-man. God purposely blessed, not cursed, Eun-man to build the baby box, and I'm really glad that he did."

"God sent them to earth with their disabilities. They're not the unnecessary ones. They teach people. They live with smiles on their faces."

This film did not tell you how you should live your life, or how to be more "Christian." It simply told the story of some courageous Christians, humbly caring for the "least of these."

What has made me come to the conclusion that Christianity is real is not some clever argument. It wasn't some verse that "just jumped out" at me. It wasn't "puzzle pieces" falling into place. It wasn't even the gospel.

For a long time, Jesus just seemed like some nice figure that someone had made up. Because of the bullying that I faced at Church, I couldn't see how someone would believe that Jesus was really who he said he was. After all, it was his so-called followers that were bullying me. But then I saw people that really lived out their faith.

They lived like Jesus. You could see Jesus through them. I so often felt unnecessary at Church because I struggled to read the Bible and memorize verses like the other kids. But people like Pastor Lee convinced me that Christianity was real.

They loved unconditionally.
Gave sacrificially.
And recklessly pursued their God.
All the while, quietly beckoning others do do the same.

They forfeited their own lives so that they could be God's ambassadors on earth.