Church Growth Hero – Dr. Ralph Winter

Yesterday was the memorial service for Dr. Ralph Winter.  I only met Dr. Winter one time at a missions planning meeting in Irvine, CA, but his writings and speaking have had a great impact on my thinking.

I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that Dr. Winter was the most influential missiologist of the second half of the 20th century.  He was the founder of the U.S. Center for World Mission, William Carey International University, and the International Society for Frontier Missiology.

Beyond all of that, perhaps his most notable contribution to world missions was his introduction of the concept of “unreached people groups” in 1974.  This led to a shift in thinking from a country by country approach to a more Biblical, “all peoples” approach to reaching the world for Christ.

I hope you’ll take a moment to thank God for Dr. Ralph Winter and for using him in such a powerful way to stoke the fire of world evangelization.

Dr. Ralph D. Winter
1924 – 2009

Here are a couple of Dr. Winter’s most influential works:

• Perspectives on the World Christian Movement
• Dr. Winter’s Paper Lausanne 1974