By Bill Abeyta – VJF Missions Board
Opportunity:
At our recent Missions Board meeting, which included new members, I shared an article by Alex Kocman titled “What Missions Is—and Isn’t.” Rather than assume everyone was familiar with the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18–20, I provided highlighted printouts of the author’s concluding statements:
“The gospel is the message God uses to save and set apart a people for Himself in the Church, from every nationality, language, and ethnicity. Missions, then, carry this gospel to all nations. It’s the work of the Church between Christ’s first coming and His return.”
“So what is missions? Missions is proclaiming the gospel to every people group that has not yet heard it, and establishing churches—churches that will continue the mission by reaching their culture, teaching others, and sending out missionaries.”
These statements clearly define the who, what, when, why, and where of our ‘mission’, which begins with the gospel message to believe in the person and finished work of Jesus Christ.
10/40 Window:
Throughout November, Ventura Jubilee Fellowship will pray for Christians worldwide who face severe persecution for their faith in Jesus Christ. We’ll also pray for a missionary couple we support in a nation where sharing the gospel is illegal and punishable by imprisonment or death. Most of Jubilee-supported missionaries serve in the ‘10/40 Window’—a region that includes many of the world’s most persecuted countries, where they are making disciples, training pastors, and planting churches.
This region, stretching from Morocco in the west to Japan in the east, and from Kazakhstan in the north to Indonesia in the south, is known as the 10/40 Window. Most of its people are spiritually blind to the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, following Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or no religion at all.
The 10/40 Window spans 69 nations from 10° south to 40° north of the equator, across North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. It’s home to about 4 billion people in 8,357 people groups—62.5% of them unreached, representing 2.9 billion people. Two-thirds of the world’s population and 90% of its poorest live here. About 95% are unevangelized, 1.6 billion have never heard the gospel, and 45 of the 50 most persecuted countries for Christians are within this region.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, we lift up the most vulnerable in the 10/40 Window and beyond. Grant them grace to stand firm in their faith amid persecution. Strengthen and protect them and the missionaries serving there, giving them bold opportunities to proclaim Your Word. May You be glorified as we await Christ’s return. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
