Gustavo’s Musings # 2 of 10

Nov 2003

“Opening the Window From Below”

This article was written during our language training in San Jose, Costa Rica. Costa Rica was the first
international stop in our cross-cultural missions journey.

In actuality, our journey had begun in 1997 with a Perspectives Course. Shortly after that it was four
years in seminary followed by an arduous application process with our missions agency and a long
discernment period with our church to determine an appropriate ministry and country of service.

Our eventual ministry was determined to be as a professor in a Bible Institute, just outside of Asunción,
Paraguay in South America. Prior to deploying for the field, my wife needed to learn Spanish and I
needed to greatly improve my own. Thus, our first stop was the Spanish Language Institute in San Jose,
Costa Rica where we planned to study for 8 months.

My purpose for writing this article was to convey the importance of continuing to send missionaries to
Latin America as opposed to only investing in the 10-40 window as some had argued.

10-40 Angst

As someone preparing for missionary service, I often suffered from 10-40 angst. This spiritual
discomfort was rooted in conflicting emotions toward my place in the global missions endeavor. On the
one hand, the gaping need for Christian workers in the 10-40 Window, stabbed at the heart of any
earnest follower of Christ, especially one who was entering cross-cultural ministry.
At the same time, however, the nature of such hostile spiritual terrain (with the likelihood of
persecution) was a task from which even the hardiest disciple would shrink. In the end, the pangs of
moral responsibility could never quite generate the emotional inertia needed to minister under such
demanding circumstances. Nevertheless, the struggle continued to wage on.

The 10-40 Window

The 10-40 Window was a term coined by the evangelical community to draw attention to the
least evangelized portions of the world. Starting at 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator in the
Atlantic, and stretching east through Asia, one could draw an imaginary window, which incorporated
over 90% of the non-Christian
populations of the entire globe. (See
inset)
Stop and ponder that for a moment.
Within this dense geographic spectrum of
over 3 billion people, very few (on a
percentage basis) had a viable witnessing
church in their vicinity and many could go
an entire lifetime without ever hearing the
gospel. The statistics painted a grim
portrait. Morocco, for example, with 28 million people, had a Christian population of .1%. Algeria
(with 31 million people) stood at .29% and Libya (with 6 million people) was at 3%. And the list could
go on…

The Pull of Latin America

But, no matter how hard we tried to envision ourselves in these geographic contexts, our hearts
were always unmistakably and mysteriously drawn to one place: Latin America. Humanly speaking,
this was a logical choice. I was of Hispanic descent having been born in Mexico, though now having
lived in the United States for 32 years. In addition, I had a pretty good command of the Spanish
language. Finally, my skills as a teacher and instructor in the secular world could immediately be used
in filling Latin America’s needs for leadership development and theological education. But we were
attracted to Latin America for much more than practical reasons. We were drawn to its beautiful
language, its unique culture, its tragic history and…its suffering people. As it turned out, there was one
additional reason for this pull that only became clearer as time went on. As usual, God was working on
many different levels.

Growth in Latin America

The truth was that the evangelical church in Latin America had experienced unprecedented
growth since the 1960s. The same was true of the Pentecostal and Charismatic wings. Not only had
there been an explosion of new converts and churches (who needed to be discipled), but also, a new
vision for reaching the world had also emerged from within Latin America.
Here, within the countries that stretched between Mexico to Argentina was a powerful
missionary force that was waiting to be unleashed. One might say that in response to the incredible
work of the Holy Spirit, Latin America had come to recognize its unique place within the global
missions community. The time had come to make an impact, not only within its own borders, but also
within…the 10-40 Window!
This desire and zeal, which was funneled into continent-wide missions initiatives, was aided by
several unique connections to the least evangelized portions of the world:

Latin American Missions Connections

Spain conquered Latin America almost immediately after the Moors had occupied it for nearly
1,000 years. While Spain did not export Muslim culture to the new world, there were many remnants
from this occupation that were suitable for ministry in the 10-40 Window and particularly the Muslim
world:
There was a linguistic connection – Over two thousand words in the Arabic language have the
same or similar cognates as in Spanish. “Camisa” for “shirt” and “Ojala” for “hopefully, God willing,”
are two such cognates that come to mind.
There was a physical connection – A typical Latin American had many physical traits similar to
that of many Arabs. In other words, their darker complexion, hair and eyes would be quite normal in
countries like Jordan, Morocco or Egypt.
There was a cultural connection - Latin American culture was more closely aligned with Middle
Eastern culture. This included an event vs. time orientation as in the West, a focus on relationships and
the importance of the family structure.
 To these connections could be added economic and political considerations. Latin Americans (in
general) were largely accustomed to the living conditions in the majority world. They required fewer
creature comforts than their North American counterparts. In addition, after September 11th, and the
invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, anti-U.S. sentiment was high among the Arab world making it much
more difficult for North Americans to live and work in these areas. There was no such bias against
Latin Americans.

Our Place in Global Missions

Thus, we find ourselves serving in Latin America at the very moment that it is experiencing
these historic shifts. And, we’re not alone in being called by God to serve here. Though our ministries
may be different: evangelism, church planting, teaching, youth ministry, micro business enterprises, or
working as technicians, doctors, engineers or architects, our ultimate task as missionaries is to contribute
to the establishment, growth and maturity of Great Commission churches; churches that will commit
themselves to make disciples of all nations. Latin America is rising up to meet the challenges posed by
the non-evangelized areas of the world, and God is allowing us to play a unique role in that great
endeavor. Seen in this way, perhaps a little angst is not bad if it spurs us to maintain our focus on
reaching the lost for Christ, whether here or in the 10-40 Window.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gustavo Karakey was born in Durango, Mexico and grew up in Southern California. Currently,
he lives in Boston with his wife and three children.
From 2004-2008, he served as a missionary to Paraguay, South America teaching at the
Methodist Bible Institute just outside of Asunción.
In 2011, Gustavo and his family will be moving to Medellín, Colombia, where Gustavo will
serve as a professor of New Testament at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia (www.fusbc.edu.co).
Gustavo’s passion is to help develop pastors and leaders for the church in Colombia and Latin
America as well as to prepare missionaries from Colombia for the unfinished task of global missions.

*****
To learn more about this exciting ministry in Colombia visit: http://www.karakey.com
To sample or purchase a copy of Gustavo’s book “ Making Sense of the Bible” which provides a step-by-
step method to better understand the Scriptures visit: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/22475