Ralph Winter (1925 – 2009)

Perhaps the foremost missiologist in our day, Dr. Ralph Winter, went to be with the Lord last night, succumbing to a protracted battle with myeloma. In 2005, Dr. Winter was included among the top 25 most influential evangelicals in America. I first learned of Dr. Winter and his legacy when I took Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, a fantastic semester-long course for which college-level credit can generally be obtained. A former professor at Fuller Seminary and founder of the U.S. Center for World Mission (part of William Carey International University) in Pasadena, California, Dr. Winter had a profound impact on global missions in the 20th century and to this day. As John Piper explains in his tribute, Winter played a significant role in coining the phrase “unreached people groups” which teaches us to think of the world as made up of distinct “ethno-linguistic groups” and then to push hard to get a gospel witness into each one of those groups. Much more could be said (see this lengthy discussion from John Piper).
Piper’s tribute includes this short video about unreached peoples: