The 10/40 Window
Evan Doyle over at the Way We See It Blog, posted about the 10/40 window yesterday. Now I am not accusing him of anything here, but I was thinking of posting some thoughts about that very topic at least two days ago.
So here my take on the 10/40 window (stolen in part from Joel A’Bell - Hillsong Executive Pastor)
(Do I ever have original ideas?)
The 10/40 Window refers to those regions of the eastern hemisphere located between 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator, the area that has the largest amount of unreached people groups in the world. An area that encompasses the majority of the world’s Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists.
A very popular term I heard a lot growing up in the nineties… maybe because my parents were into missions big-time?
Where is the 10/40 window in your church?
The largest group of families, students, singles that are not connected in any significant way to the life of your church. Sure, they may attend monthly or even weekly, but do they have relationships within church life or do they just come and go?
The pathway within our church community is this:
- New People Network - You are new (6 months or less) to the church.
- Service Active - No longer a new person but attend church
- Connect Group Active - You are active in a small group
- Ministry Active - Active in a ministry within church life
- Key Team - Oversee teams of leaders/a ministry within church life.
Our goal is to break down the BIG into something smaller… ANYTHING smaller. So if you start serving on weekends, you are now involved in a smaller community. If you get involved in a Connect group (small group) you are now part of a smaller community.
The desire is that everyone serving is a part of a small group… but that is not a barrier to serving, you will probably find your small group within the relationships you make in the ministry.
So the 10/40 window for us - Service Active
The big black hole that is service active.
Families that enter may never come out. They may never build significant relationships, they may never really get excited about the vision of our church, they may slowly start becoming the Easter and Christmas kind of church attender.
So our goal is to connect ALL new people with ministries/small groups BEFORE they enter service active. There is a journey that all people take in your church - and your goal is to make the pathway clear enough as POSSIBLE to every new person.
There are kids that I see regularly for months, then all of a sudden it has been half a year since I last saw them…
Where is your 10/40 window… I have a feeling it is in the same place as mine.
Very insightful. I would say that our 10/40 window would be the same, people that attend but aren’t involved. We try to get them involved in small groups and various service aspects, but some are just content to be there. No more required. How would you advise making the transition? What works for your ministry? As one who works with kids, how do you make the connect for them when it’s the parents that aren’t connected?