The 10/40 Diaspora Challenge 

One of the lessons we see in Scripture is that if we neglect to go to the nations, he will bring them to us. If we try to ignore them, he will put them on the nightly news every evening. In the aftermath of World War Two and the final collapse of colonialism around the world, we witnessed a new era of intolerance and persecution towards Christians in most countries in the 10/40 Window. They quickly became known as restricted access and creative access countries. Before it was named the 10/40 Window it was called the resistant belt. Missionaries were being expelled and visas denied.

But God cannot be thrwated, nor his mission to bless all nations through his people. God created the conditions by which these restricted access countries would send millions of their inhabitants to the West. He allowed wars, national disasters, and economic duress. Meanwhile he allowed Western nations to prosper. He gave them the best education institutions in the world. Their economies roared back to life after the great war.

He gave his church the opportunity to bless the nations right in their own backyard. But will we? Some get it, but others have a ways to go. We need to be reminded that we are first and foremest citizines of God's kingdom. This is what Jesus wanted the Jews to understand in the first century. When asked "Who is my neighbor" he tells a story of a foreigner helping his enemy. Why would he do that? Perhaps because in the same passage in the Torah where it says to love your neighbor as yourshelf, it also says to "love the foreigner as yourself."

Jesus reminded his disciples of this when he said if you only love those who love you, or who can repay you, what credit is that to you? Utlimately the true test of our love is how we treat the most vulnerable among us. God has given us an incredible opportunity to reach millions of lost souls from the 10/40 Window. He has brought them to us for one purpose--that they might be with us for eternity.