October 2 1995

ARTICLE TOOLS

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What could go down as the world's largest prayer meeting is taking place all this month. In an ambitious push to fulfill the Great Commission by century's end, a massive new movement features on-site and home-based intercessory prayer.

Praying Through the Window II, sponsored by the Colorado Springs- based evangelistic initiative AD 2000, will involve as many as 30 million Christians in more than 100 countries in a monthlong campaign. The first Praying Through the Window campaign took place in October 1993 and rallied an estimated 21 million people to pray for the "unreached" countries within the so-called 10/40 Window. This year's event focuses on the evangelization of 100 key cities within that region.

The 10/40 Window describes the rectangular area on the globe extending from 10 degrees to 40 degrees north of the equator, eastward from North Africa and southern Spain to Japan and northern Philippines—an area dominated by Buddhist, Islamic, and Hindu faiths, and lacking a substantial Christian presence.

"This is the area where over 2.5 billion people live who are, in the definition of Christian evangelism, the least-reached people," says Michael Little, chairperson of Praying Through the Window II and president of the Christian Broadcasting Network. "If a person is born within the 10/40 Window today, they probably would not in their lifetime discover who Jesus Christ is, for lack of a church or evangelistic effort in their area."

Little believes the communications technology is in place to fulfill the Great Commission but says focused prayer has been long neglected and will be crucial to evangelizing the world.

According to C. Peter Wagner, coordinator of the AD 2000 United Prayer Track, which developed the Praying Through ...