Reaching Our 10/40 Window

Erin Curtis, Volunteer
The Call, July-September 2016

“Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.” (Exodus 22:21, NIV)

“The 10/40 Window is in our backyard,” stated ministry partner Amanda Mason. Her work with Muslim refugees points us to the urgent need of reaching this people group as they integrate into American communities.

Amanda felt a tug on her heart in high school for missions to Muslims. She dismissed it quickly. After all, how could a girl in a wheelchair ever be a missionary? Then 9/11 happened while she was in college, and a chapel speaker spoke about ministry to Muslims, stirring the desire Amanda felt as a teen. In 2004, she taught English to Muslims at The American School for Women and Children in Toledo, Ohio, for six weeks. She returned to the school in 2007 to teach for a year. Health complications forced Amanda to move back to her home in Columbus, Ohio, in 2008. 

God impressed His call on her again in 2015. Amanda now works with US Together (Ohio), teaching English to Muslims and international refugees, and she hopes to launch soon with World Relief.

Part of Amanda’s passion is inspiring Christians in America to reach out to Muslims. “I would love to see the Church take on this ministry as something that they can get involved with,” she expressed. According to Amanda, the 10/40 Window in our backyard is truly a window. Just as we don’t see glass panes until we look for them, so too are Muslims in America overlooked by the Church.

Most Muslims in America are seeking a better life for their families. Many are highly educated but speak little English and feel vulnerable. Because many Americans distrust Arabic people, many Muslims struggle to find community. 

Amanda advocates our responsibility as Christians to reach Muslims in our communities. Kindness, basic courtesy, and connection are simple things she has seen Americans withhold from Muslims. Ministry to them involves seeing them as normal people who are in need. Simple things like inviting refugees into our homes and engaging them at a personal level are ways Amanda sees that can best reach them. “It’s worth taking the risk and getting to know them,” she said.

Equipping missionaries to minister to refugees in America is one area Amanda notes churches can focus on more. These missionaries need greater doses of prayer, training, and support.

Exodus 22:21 spurs Amanda on. “Politically, today, we are against refugees,” Amanda observed. “We need to remember that we [Christians] are refugees in this world, that this is not our home.”

GO: Do you want to find out more about ministering to Muslims in the United States? Contact Jared Gleason at recruiting@wgm.org for available ministry opportunities.