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This morning in Sunday School we learned about a place called the 10/40 window. That is an area of the world where many people are focusing their prayers and their efforts to bring the light of Jesus Christ to some very spiritually dark places. It’s not just one country but a bunch of countries where people need to hear about Jesus.
According to the Joshua Project, there are 2.82 billion people living there. More people living there, than any other place on earth, have not heard about Jesus or have not learned enough about Him to understand about His love for them. Of all of the cities in the world whose people need to hear about Jesus, the top 50 are ALL in the 10/40 window. It covers about one-third of the earth’s land area, but almost two-thirds of the world’s people live there. Plus, if you were to make a huge list of the poorest groups of people who live in the entire world, 8 out of 10 of them live in the 10/40 window.1
It is often very hard to be a Christian living in the 10/40 window. There are so many places where there are not many churches to go to, places where Christians’ families and friends persecute them for believing in Jesus, and places where it is even against the law to be a Christian or read a Bible. Of the 50 countries where Open Doors says it is the most dangerous to be a Christian right now, 45 of them are inside the 10/40 window.2
Here is a list of the countries in the 10/40 window. I’m going to see if I can find them all on a map and pray for the people who live in them.
Afghanistan | Albania | Algeria |
Azerbaijan | Bahrain | Bangladesh |
Benin | Bhutan | Brunei |
Burkina Faso | Cambodia | Chad |
China | China, Hong Kong | China, Macau |
Djibouti | East Timor | Egypt |
Eritrea | Ethiopia | Gambia |
Guinea | Guinea-Bissau | India |
Indonesia | Iran | Iraq |
Israel | Japan | Jordan |
Kazakhstan | Korea, North | Kuwait |
Kyrgyzstan | Laos | Lebanon |
Libya | Malaysia | Maldives |
Mali | Mauritania | Mongolia |
Morocco | Myanmar (Burma) | Nepal |
Niger | Nigeria | Oman |
Pakistan | Qatar | Saudi Arabia |
Senegal | Somalia | Sri Lanka |
Sudan | Syria | Taiwan |
Tajikistan | Thailand | Tunisia |
Turkey | Turkmenistan | United Arab Emirates |
Uzbekistan | Vietnam | West Bank / Gaza |
Western Sahara | Yemen |
“Dear God, please help every person living in the 10/40 window to hear that Jesus died for them because He loves them and lives forever now in Heaven. Help them believe in Jesus so they can live forever with You in Heaven. And please help the Christians who live in the 10/40 window to keep telling others about You, no matter how hard it is. Thank You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”
1. www.joshuaproject.net/10-40-window.php
2. http://www.worldwatchlist.us/
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LeahWe says
We pray for missionaries through Wycliffe/JAARS who have missionaries working on Bible translation for this 10/40 window.
writebonnierose says
Thank you so much! That is wonderful to hear!