GFA Leader Calls Ralph Winter Death 'The Passing of a Giant,' Recalls His Influence
CARROLLTON, Texas, May 23 /
Christian Newswire/ -- "The death of Dr. Ralph Winter marks the passing of a giant from the scene of missions," said Dr. K.P. Yohannan, founder and president of Gospel for Asia, "and GFA owes him a tremendous debt of gratitude for his influence on our ministry."
Dr. Winter, 84, who died Wednesday night of cancer, was the founder of the U.S. Center for World Missions and, later, William Carey International University.
"Most of all, he caused a paradigm shift in the focus of global missions," Dr. Yohannan said.
"I don't think there was anyone more significant in the 20th century world of missions or anyone who brought as much change to how missions were strategized than Ralph Winter."
Dr. Yohannan explained that before Dr. Winter, the focus of missions was on reaching countries--"coloring in the map of individual political entities."
"But Dr. Winter pointed out that when Matthew 24:14 says the Gospel will be preached 'as a testimony to all nations,' the Greek word for 'nations' is 'ethnos,' which means a distinct people group," the GFA leader said. "It was a whole new paradigm of missions thinking! We all began to understand that missions needed to be specific and targeted to reach people groups who had never before heard the Gospel, regardless of what country they lived in. He created a whole world of fresh missions thinking."
Dr. Winter also had a personal impact on a young K.P. Yohannan and his growing Asian ministry.
"Our entire mission focus changed when I met with Dr Winter in the early days of our ministry," Dr. Yohannan recalled. "When he asked me what percentage of our finances and personnel were invested in reaching unreached people groups, I of course said that it was all for that purpose. But when I came back and researched it, I found that many of those we were supporting were not going to the unreached at all. That's when I knew our model had to change.
"From that meeting with Dr. Winter came the understanding that if we were going to reach the truly unreached, then we would have to train and send out our own native missionaries. And from that understanding came our Bible colleges and the way we now do missions."
Time magazine named Dr. Winter one of America's 25 most influential evangelicals in 2005, and he received numerous other awards and honors. But Dr. Yohannan summed it up simply by saying, "He may be one of the three or four most significant individuals of the 20th century in terms of global missions. And he was certainly influential in the development of Gospel for Asia. We are grateful to God for his faithfulness to the cause of reaching the lost, and our prayers go with his family at this time."
Gospel for Asia is an evangelical mission organization based in Carrollton involved in sharing the love of Jesus across South Asia.
