An "Omega Zone" is a civil division of a nation that fits certain criteria which strategically focuses attention on where the gospel is needed most. They are called Omega Zones because our final goal is to see Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, represented in every part of the earth.

There are 3 components that make up an Omega Zone: a civil division (consisting of a government-recognized name and geographic boundary), a population figure and an assessment of gospel availability. This means that an Omega Zone is identified by a specific name, associated with a particular place, in which we know how many people are there and how much the gospel has been shared in that area.

Omega Zones have the components of civil division (name and boundary), population figure and assessment of gospel availability because in order to reach people with the gospel we need to identify where they are, how many people there are to reach and how much progress the gospel has made so far.

The determination of approximately 4,000 zones was arrived at through prayer and for the following reasons:

• Simplicity. For an idea to multiply organically it must be engaging yet simple. 4,000 is a nice round number that emerges from ABC-369.
• Accessibility: 4,000 is a reasonable number of regions to serve during the lifespan of an initiative which is typically 10 to 15 years.
• Global scope: 4,000 provides enough information for strategy and planning at a global scale without detail overload.
• Local scope: Strategy at the local level must be challenging but not overwhelming. 4,000 leads to reasonable sized zones where realistically attainable goals can be developed and led from within the local context.

Civil divisions are the administrative units that nations of the world use to organize, govern and provide services to their populations.

4K primarily uses civil divisions because:

• Civil divisions are indispensable to government administration and therefore are consistently maintained.
• Statistical and demographic sources of information are almost universally organized by civil divisions.
• Civil divisions are widely recognized and accepted as "natural nomenclature" within their cultural contexts.
• All ministry happens within civil divisions.
• Correlation to civil divisions could greatly advance the transmission and sharing of relevant information.

"ABC-369" is a new way of organizing civil divisions that increases our effectiveness in spreading the gospel by focusing on people and their needs. "ABC" lets us know how much the gospel has been shared in a particular place. "369" refers to limits placed on population so that the units we use represent a similar "challenge" even though they might be different sizes. This helps us to choose the right level of civil division at which to develop strategies for meeting people’s needs. (Link to Technical Definition)

We use 3, 6, and 9 million as population limits because they are simple and they strike the right balance between a manageable size of Omega Zone and a manageable number of Omega Zones. They also satisfy the strategic implications of gospel availability by increasing population where there are more Christians who can partner together and decreasing population where there is less Christian infrastructure to network with.

Even though 3, 6, and 9 million represent large differences in population size, most of the Omega Zones are close to their average population of about 1.5 million (6 billion people divided by 4000 zones) whether they are A, B or C. Civil divisions naturally gravitate toward this size for administrative reasons.

In approximately 98% of the cases subdivisions are made according the strict criteria of ABC-369 (Link to Technical Definition). In cases where following this criteria would produce a large number of Omega Zone’s with small populations, or if lower level subdivision information is not available, social and cultural considerations are used to develop an equitable division. Input from the people of these areas is desired and solicited.

4K is a dynamic map that changes as the world does. Any time an Omega Zone’s name, boundary, population or evangelism status change an update is required. The schedule for updates is connected to the release of U.N. population projections at the beginning and middle of each year.

4K uses legitimate, official sources of public access information. Examples of these sources include: national census bureau documents from individual countries or compilations of information from public entities like the United Nations and World Health Organization or from private sources like the World Christian Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Britannica, etc.

World ID Codes are a set of labels for civil divisions, which use a hierarchical structure to generate a unique ID for each division while showing the relationships between various divisions. Generally speaking, the world ID code for a given civil division is the first three letters of its official name preceded by the first three letters of the official name for the division above it until the national level is reached.
For example: the world ID code for Brazil is BRA. The World ID code for the State of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is BRA-RIO. The world ID code for the "Serrana" region in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil would be BRA-RIO-SER.

As we are successful at taking the gospel into areas where it is not currently available, security concerns will increase. Where specific information could present a threat, missionaries can share their data at the world ID code of a higher, less specific, division so that information is reported in a way that communicates effectively without creating a security concern.

Most commonly, when we think of the world we think of 238 countries. With 4K we see 4,097 strategic zones which help us to understand where the needs of the world actually are. 2/3 of the countries of the word are outside the "10/40 Window" while 3/4 of the omega zones are inside the "10/40 Window". Therefore, 4K includes the entire world while giving a new way to focus attention on where the gospel is needed most.

4K focuses attention on both physical and spiritual needs because these are equal partners in advancing the gospel. As we look at the physical needs of the world we find that there is a very strong correlation between the availability of the gospel and areas of major physical need.

The concept of "People Groups" has been very helpful in understanding the scope of the Great Commission. 4K organizes information to provide even more clarity about the location, migration and social and demographic realities of people groups by placing them within civil divisions.

There are many opportunities to become involved spanning a wide range of skill sets – see below for a list of job descriptions in needed areas. For more information contact us.

• Researcher / Analyst
  Acquire data and information from a variety of sources with an emphasis on internet-based research. Analyze Data for information, trends and other patterns.
  Additional Desirable Experience
  Search engines, databases, spreadsheets, XML, perl scripts and other data analysis tools
  
• Data Architect
  Model data and data relationships within a relational database.
  Additional Desirable Experience
  GIS data, ESRI geodatabases, SQL Server
  
• Software Engineer
  Specify, design, implement and test windows applications with an emphasis on web-based application development.
  Additional Desirable Experience
  GIS and GIS development, ESRI Suite, ASP.NET, SOAP, Ajax, XML, SQL Server, COM
  
• Webmaster
  Design and develop web pages emphasizing data sources and graphic display.
  
• Graphic Artist
  Create graphic elements and design layouts for use in presentation materials such as brochures and web pages
  Additional Desirable Experience
  Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop
  
• Cultural Geographer
  Apply understanding of cultural factors to decisions related to data, data relationships and mapping
  Additional Desirable Experience
  ESRI Suite
  
• Cartographer
  Use data and data relationships modeled as GIS databases to create maps
  Additional Desirable Experience
  ESRI Suite and geodata, Microsoft Access, SQL, Excel, VBScript, VBA