International (MNN) — You've heard about the 10/40 Window…but
you might not actually know what it is.
The term was coined by Ralph Winters, a missiologist who saw
an area of the world that contains the largest population of non-Christians.
Winters brought this to the attention of the delegates gathered in 1974 at the Lausanne Conference on World Evangelization, pointing out a huge swath of the world that extends from 10
degrees to 40 degrees North of the equator, and stretches from North Africa
across to China.
It was a catalytic effort to get the Church to embrace the
Great Commission and streamline evangelistic work. The concept revolutionized missions.
Another concept recently burst onto the Gospel scene…and it
involves not the geography, but the demography. It's called the 4/14 Window.
The 4/14 Window targets people aged four to fourteen years
old, as the most open and receptive to every form of spiritual and
developmental input.
In fact, you could say it's a new missional focus: the 4-14
Window golden age of opportunity to transform the world. The primary building blocks of the 4-14 Window
Global Initiative are national, track, and prayer based initiatives. Africa Inland Mission is part of the movement.
AIM recently highlighted the work of an island outreach team
that launched a Good News Club. 16 children came to the first meeting. AIM notes that globally, the statistics show
that 80% of those who come to Christ do so between the ages of 4 and 14.
AIM's teams have developed opportunities to work with
Africa's children through education, outreach programs, and through services to
orphans and other children at risk.
Pray for the island Good
News Club and AIM's many other outreaches to children in the 4/14 Window. Pray,
too, for all those working with African children and for more effective
strategies to help churches working among them.
